This blog is about dyeing yarn any color you want using just five colors: 

 Red, Yellow, Blue, Magenta, and Turquoise.

Color theory triangle

Painters mix their own colors all the time to get exactly the effect they want.  That's part of the joy and skill of painting.  But with dyes, mistakes are expensive and pretty much permanent.  So most dyers choose a premixed color from a manufacturer.  

But dyers don't have to settle for what's available.  We can mix our own colors just like painters do.  Well, maybe not JUST like painters.  But the theory is the same.  Blue and yellow still make green.  Red and yellow still make orange.  The difference is we need to experiment a bit in advance to get a feel for how the dyes act.  

Color triangle using red/yellow/blue primaries. 2.5 Depth of shade

I'm picky about color.  Also, I admit, I'm rather frugal.  OK, very frugal.  With this method I can buy just five dyes.  No waste!  I bought mine in bulk 20 years ago because they were soooo much cheaper in 8 oz jars, not to mention the savings in shipping. 

Of course, I had no idea how much yarn 8 oz of dye powder could color.  I probably have enough dye powder to last the rest of my life.  Luckily, dye in powder form lasts just about forever.  

The approach I use is based on the book, Synthetic Dyes for Natural Fibers, by Linda Knutson (Interweave Press, 1986).  The bad news is that this book is now out of print.  The good news is that used copies are readily available on Amazon etc. I believe it is still the best book available for the serious home dyer.  Even if you want to do variegated and novel effects, it pays to understand the basics.  

By the way, I've already contacted Interweave Press, and there are no plans to reissue the book. In fact, they no longer own the publication rights. Maybe Linda Knutson will stumble across this blog and decide to reissue her book.  That would be very cool. 

   

So here we go.  Woo Hoo!   I'll post some results of experiments from the past as well as what I'm doing now, thoughts, questions, plans.....  If you are doing similar experiments, maybe you can send me some pics, and I can post them too.