Dyeing to Spin & Knit: Techniques & Tips to Make Custom Hand-Dyed Yarns

by Felicia Lo

Inspire and unleash a passion for hand-crafted color!

"Unapologetic" is how Felicia Lo always describes her obsession with color and craft. In Dyeing to Spin and Knit , Felicia, founder and creative director of SweetGeorgia Yarns and highly sought after teacher and lecturer, provides clear and accessible guidance for creating gorgeous hand-dyed yarns and spinning fibers and an understanding of how dyeing affects knitted yarn and handspun yarn.  

Fiber artists will learn the fundamentals of how color works, how to combine and coordinate colors, and how to control the results when dyeing wool and silk yarns and fibers. Spinners will learn how to subdue intense and bright colorways or prevent muddiness in handspun. Knitters will gain the knowledge to avoid or maximize the effects of pooling. And finally, this book will include 10 patterns that use hand-dyed and handspun yarns and fibers to their most exciting advantage in knitting projects.

Complete with detailed photographs from Felicia's own dyeing studio, Dyeing to Spin and Knit offers a master class in preparing hand-dyed yarns and fibers. Ignite your love of color--unapologetically!

Genres: Knitting, Nonfiction, Crafts, Reference

160 pages, Paperback

Published January 12, 2017

Reviews

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're wanting to learn how to hand dye, this probably isn't the ideal book for you. If, however, you're already at least somewhat familiar with dyeing and want to improve, this is a fantastic book! The author is a highly successful dyer who has worked in everything from a corner of her home to a full studio with assistants, and her experience shows. Some information I found in this book I haven't seen before include Lo's favorite dye colors for mixing and creating washfast, lightfast yarns, pictures of yarns dyed in subtly different conditions (when the acid is introduced to the dye bath, whether the yarn was wet prior to going into the dye bath, etc), and tips on creating repeatable hand painted colorways.

A surprisingly large portion of the book was dedicated not to dyeing, but to working with hand dyed fibers and yarn. I found the spinning section interesting, as I've barely dabbled in spinning and all the tips were new to me. I found the knitting section less interesting, as I've seen similar techniques before in other books, although the pictures illustrating how small changes affect the outcome were very nice. None of the knitting patterns particularly stood out to me, and personally I would have preferred to see that space dedicated to more discussion of dyeing, but they're nice enough and beautifully photographed, and I'm sure others who prefer their patterns in book format will like them.

[Rita · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disregard the somewhat eyeroll-worthy title of this book, which undermines the absolute wealth of information and strategy it includes for all things fiber. Most of the dye sections will be intimidating for beginners, but are very helpful for explaining why that one batch you dyed did that unexpectedly splotchy (or too smooth) thing it did.

I did not read the spinning section (trying to keep a lid on the amount of time-consuming fiber activities I'm accumulating) or the patterns, so can't speak too much for those.

[WittyUserName5 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was inspired to take up weaving when I found Felicia's blog many many years ago. I was so blown away by her amazing sense of colour that I literally went out and got a loom and learned a new craft, that's how good at colour Felicia is. Seriously, she is a colour genius. And now she's downloaded her knowledge of yarn dyeing into this book and you can consume it. Highly recommend.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lot of what I've learned about dyeing has come from YouTube and blogs and other online resources. But I reach for this book again and again for its clear examples and precise information. If you want the calculations and explanations for what's going on in the dye pot, this is an excellent resource.

[Night_Dragon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book was very helpful! I appreciate how detail the author got in different techniques, keeping an eye out for common mistakes and ways to fix them. Definitely feel more confident in trying my first dye job.

[Naj · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd hoped for more content specific to dyeing fiber. That said, it's the best book on techniques for dyeing yarn that I've come across yet!

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some good ideas on using hand spun dyes.

[Linda Guzzaldo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book could have been a lot more specific in places. I feel like she withheld some key things about dyeing yarn, especially about handpainting.

[Sheralynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is great and definitely works for me, being a chemist. I appreciate the scientific and detailed approach. Definitely one to purchase and keep on the shelf.

[Elie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The emphasis of this book is how different techniques affect color. Not much about dyeing techniques.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book helped take some of the guesswork out of knitting with hand-dyed yarns (which I love) by explaining what causes the pooling of colors and striping.