Yarn dyeing workshop with Julie Asselin!

On Friday I was lucky enough to be part of a yarn dyeing workshop with the bubbly Julie Asselin. She explained everything from start to finish so that we could do our own experiments at home.

The 2-hour workshop took place at Tricotine et cie in Deux-Montagnes. There were 10 participants. Julie gave us all a notebook so we’d remember the basics for our home trials.

To start, we chose a base. A fingering (used for Piccolo), a fingering with a shiny filament (used for Stella), or a worsted (used for Sévilla). Then we soaked our yarn, chose colours by trying the dyes on tissue paper, and prepared our final choices for the application to come after.

These last 2 steps took us foreeeeeeeeeeeeeeever. As newb as we were, we were determined to make the prettiest skein ever seen!

With our virginal yarns laid onto saran wrap (important for the next step), we drowned the fiber with our chosen coulours. At this point, we had a really good idea of what the final result would be. I’m happy to report that no one made a regrettable skein =)

Our dye-filled yarn was then wrapped and placed into a cauldron, to get steamed for a bit. Julie was the one to unwrap and rinse them all in warm water as we oooohed and aaaahed.

Click on the photos to view larger versions.

My skein is a mix of charcoal and hot pink. I’m super happy with how it turned out. I can’t wait to crochet it and see how it works up. The base, by the way, is the Piccolo base : a fingering with 80% merino & 20% nylon. It’s a great sock yarn, but with just one skein, I’m thinking it will become a cowl or a hat.

Unless you have other cool ideas to share in the comments?

Thanks to Julie for her expertise and to Tricotine et cie for organizing a cool workshop!

Julie xx