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CraftSanity On TV: Dye Your Eggs, Then Dye Some Yarn
The nice folks at PAAS sent me some egg decorating kits for today’s craft segment on “Take Five & Company.” The kits include neon dyes and cute stickers to make eggs that look like monsters and fish. Since these egg dyeing kits are self-explanatory, I’ll focus on showing you how I use these dyes to color yarn after the egg decorating is done. So here we go.
1) Follow the directions on the box to dilute the dye capsules and add 3 tsp. of vinegar. (I used glass canning jars for this project.)
2) An alternative to plunking the eggs into cups of dye is to give the kids paint brushes and let them make water color eggs by painting the eggs with dye. (Be sure to carefully cover the work surface and dress them in old clothes if you go this route. Egg dye stains.
3) Once the eggs are all decorated. Make some small skeins of white or off-white wool yarn. Soak the yarn in soapy water for about 10 minutes. (I used dish soap.) Rinse the soap out and plop a skein into glass each jar of dye.
4) Heat the jars up in the microwave in 2-minute bursts until the yarn soaks up all the dye and the water is clear, or you’re satisfied with the color of the yarn. (Instead of waiting for the yarn to absorb all the dye, you can take out the first skein when you’re happy with the color and put in a new skein. The second skein will be lighter the first, but there should be enough dye to color two small skeins.
5) Let the jars of yarn cool. Then rinse the yarn until the water runs clear. Hang up the yarn to dry and use it in your next fiber art project.
** Note: I wouldn’t knit your grandma a sweater with yarn dyed with egg dyes because I’m not sure how colorfast it is. I use this yarn for weaving projects with the kids. If you’re going to make something wearable, make a swatch and wash it as you would your finished project to test how the color holds up.
ENTER TO WIN: Leave a comment below about your favorite Easter or spring craft tradition and enter to win some PAAS egg decorating kits, so you can dye some eggs and yarn at your house. The deadline is March 28. Good luck! CONTEST UPDATE: Congrats to Melissa H! You are the winner of the PAAS egg dye giveaway! Enjoy!
Below is the clip from today’s “Take Five” segment.
Posted: March 26th, 2010 under Crafting with Kids, Dyeing, Easter, Egg Decorating, TV, Videos, wool, yarn.
Comments: 9
Comments
Comment from Bonney
Time: March 26, 2010, 8:59 pm
This looks like fun! One of my favorite spring crafts is one we do every 3 or 4 years. I get a bunch of wooden birdhouses from the craft store and we paint them. We have had more laughs and discussed lots of interesting stuff in the process and we all have something to take home and put in the yard. They hold their color for a long time and then look kind of funky. (We use craft paint.) Happy dyeing!
Comment from Ingrid
Time: March 26, 2010, 9:25 pm
if you blow the eggs after they’ve been dyed, you can hang them from a branch with string – an easter tree! thanks for sharing, jennifer – i never would’ve thought to use the leftover dye!
Comment from Melissa H
Time: March 26, 2010, 9:54 pm
I love coloring eggs–this year I’m going to use some to make “placecards” for the Easter brunch table. I’ve already blown out a dozen eggs from our hens.
Comment from Sarah
Time: March 27, 2010, 12:00 pm
Decorating eggs has always been one of my favorite Easter traditions and I was so happy to share the tradition for the first time with my two year old last year. That is such a clever way to use the leftover dye. I wonder if you could use it tie-dye small scraps of fabric, too?
Comment from ~Helena~
Time: March 27, 2010, 3:03 pm
I love those colors, they are so bright. We bake, resurrection rolls. Super easy and yummy great way to explain the empty tomb to little ones.
Comment from Deb
Time: March 27, 2010, 9:11 pm
Jennifer,
Thanks once again for very cool crafty ideas. The wool really took that dye well. The grandkids love doing the Easter eggs, we dyed them one year with silk ties of Grandpa’s. Love the apron – I was the one who made a comment once about where is your apron? BUT – Not one of us expects or even wants you to sew a new one for every episode. No way! So we really don’t care if it’s a brand new one, just that you wear one. You must have more than 100 of them by now……We love you in them, and love you! Take care.
Comment from Shannon
Time: March 27, 2010, 10:24 pm
What an awesome use of leftover Easter egg dye! I love PAAS…I have so many great childhood memories associated with their products. My eight year old daughter just learned to knit, and she’ll LOVE discovering that she is no longer limited to the colors available in the stores. I love your blog, thanks again, Jennifer!
Comment from turtle
Time: March 28, 2010, 2:35 pm
love those vibrant colors! When i was little and spring came my mom would collect all my bright spring stubs of crayon. She would then let me shave those stubs down with an old peeler while she cut large pieces of wax paper. We would melt the wax shavings between the paper with an old iron and then cut spring shapes from them to hang in the window, our homemade spring inspired stained glass. I remember the magic of the melting then the suprise of seeing them with the light shining through.
Comment from carolyn
Time: March 28, 2010, 2:40 pm
Love the colored yarn! We always would fill eggs with treats and hide them in the yard for the kids to find. I sure do miss that!
BTW, love your blog!
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