How to Dye Yarn with a Slow Cooker

Dyeing Yarn in a Crock Pot. This is an easy, less messy way to heat set your yarn or wool dyes using a slow cooker

Over the years, I have explored many different methods of dyeing yarn and I just realized that I never shared with you the super easy Crock Pot dyeing technique.

As I mentioned, dyeing yarn with a Crock Pot is simply another heat setting technique to bond the dye to the yarn or wool.

It is a very useful method if you only need to dye a small amount of yarn (one or two skeins) or if you don’t have a lot of room to make a mess. Also, since some dyes get pretty stinky, you can simply move your slow cooker outside!

There are two ways you can use a Crockpot to dye your yarn: Hot or Cold … Fast or Slow Striking. (Those are not official dyeing terms lol).

Fast striking simply means that the yarn and water are hot when you apply the dye so that it strikes (adheres) quicker than when the yarn and water are cold.

Slow striking means you apply the dye to cool or warm yarn/water which doesn’t strike until the water gets hot. This gives the dye a longer time to move around.

For this dyeing tutorial, I used the Hot/Faster Striking method. I wanted some of my colors to be brighter and less diluted.

Dyeing Safety

*** Important Safety Note!

1. Once you use your Crockpot with chemical dyes, is will no longer be safe for food prep!

Any utensils s.a. spoons, measuring cups, chopsticks, etc. will not be safe to use. The only exception to this rule is if you are dyeing with food coloring or Kool Aid.

2. Always cover your mouth and nose with a dust mask when you handle the dye powders.

Dyeing with a Crock Pot – step by step

Prepare The Dye:

If you wish to use the dye in liquid form, you will need to go ahead and dissolve the powder with water according to the instructions on the label.

You can add the dye powder directly without dissolving it first. This will give the yarn a less even, more “mottled” look.

I had some previously dissolved dye left over from another project. Dye Colors I used for this yarn: Jacquard Silver Grey, Jacquard Pink, Cushing’s Jade Green.

Soak The Yarn:

Begin by adding a couple inches of water and one cup of the white vinegar to your Crock Pot. Now, place the yarn in the water and gently push it down to submerge it.

Since the water is cold, the yarn won’t absorb it very well at this point. Don’t worry about that, though.

It will absorb as the water heats up. Turn the slow cooker on high and leave it to heat for about an hour.

Apply the Dye to the Yarn:

At this point, you can decide which method of dyeing you want to use. You can sprinkle or speckle dye (see tutorial here) or kettle dye. I used the speckle dye method.

First, I added some of the dissolved silver grey dye. I wanted a somewhat neutral base of grey instead of plain white.

Using your chopstick or a spoon, gently lift and move the yarn so the dye goes sort of where you want it. Needless to say, be careful as the crock pot and the yarn are HOT!

Next, I picked up some of the Jade Green dye powder with a spoon and gently tapped it with a chopstick to sprinkle the yarn with the dye. (Wear your dust mask!).

Repeat with other colors:

At this point, just leave it alone for a few minutes so the dye can be absorbed into the yarn. (I accidentally dropped too much Jade Green in the pot so it took longer to strike.)

Once the water is mostly clear again, gently turn your yarn over using the chopsticks or old metal spoons. Don’t move the yarn around too much or it might felt. Repeat sprinkling dye on the other side of the yarn.

Finish the Yarn:

Now, just put the lid back on your Crock Pot and let it cook on low for about an hour or until the water is once again clear. Turn off the heat and let it cool completely.

Gently, remove your yarn and rinse it with room temperature water. Try not to manipulate the yarn or drastically change the water temp as this can cause felting. Squeeze out excess water and hang your yarn to dry.

Once the yarn is dry, it is ready to use!

Now that you know how to dye yarn with a slow cooker, you can dye up lots of pretty colorways to knit or crochet your favorite patterns.

I especially enjoy knitting socks with my hand dyed yarns. It is such fun to see the different patterns you get in each sock.

I hope you enjoyed this yarn dyeing tutorial. If you try this technique, I’d love to see your results! Share photos of your hand dyed yarn in the comments.
Enjoy!
Annette

Make sure to check out my other Yarn Dyeing Tutorials:
Beginner’s Guide to Hand Dyeing Yarn
How to Hand Paint Yarn
Speckle or Sprinkle Dyeing
How to Set Yarn Dye with Heat (5 Methods)

Have you tried dyeing yarn with a Crock Pot or slow cooker? How did it turn out?

Related Yarn Dyeing Posts:

• Best Yarn Dye Supplies & Tools
• How to Dye Cotton Yarn
• 6 Yarn and Wool Dyeing Techniques
• Natural Dyeing with Dandelion Flowers
• Dyeing Yarn with Black Beans
• How to Dye Yarn Naturally with Black Walnuts
• How to Dye Speckled Yarn
• Kettle Dyeing Yarn and Wool
• Dyeing Yarn with a Slow Cooker or Crock Pot
• Natural Dyeing with Dandelions
• How to Dye Semi Solid Yarn the Easy Way
• Dyeing Self Striping Yarn without Special Tools

Can You Dye Yarn with Food Coloring?

Yes! Absolutely, you can dye yarn with food coloring, as long as the yarn is made up of protein fiber aka animal fiber. This includes sheep wool, goat fiber, alpaca, silk … any animal wool or fiber.

You can also use Kool Aid drink powder which is essentially food coloring with citric acid mixed in.

How Do You Dye Speckled Yarn?

There are a few different ways you can make speckled yarn. First, you can dissolve your dye and drip this on.

Alternately, you can carefully sprinkle on the dry dye powder. This can be done with a spoon or a salt shaker.

The key is to get enough dye on the yarn to cover but not so much that it can’t be completely absorbed by the yarn. Check out my tutorial on Dyeing Speckled Yarn for more info.

How do you set dye in yarn?

If it is wool (or other animal fiber) yarn that you are dyeing with acid dyes, then there are several options for setting the dye.

First, acid dyes need heat to adhere to the fibers. This can be done with simmering, steaming, solar heat, microwave or with a crock pot aka slow cooker.

This article gives you instructions on the various dye setting methods.

How to Dye Yarn with a Slow Cooker