Variegated yarn knits up beautifully. So, be brave and make your own. You don't really need any fancy equipment or dyes and it's not as difficult as you might think.

What You Need.

Cushings dye

white vinegar

glass or other nonreactive casserole dish

plastic cups

apron

wet sponge for cleaning up spills

rubber gloves

dust mask

pH strips

optional: water softener

Making Variegated Yarn

Rainbow-dyeing, sprinkle-dyeing, tie-dyeing, and casserole-dyeing are all names for the same process of creating yarn that has many different colors. Cushing dyes is used in the recipe below and will work on un-spun fiber, yarn or cloth. What matters is that the fiber content be animal-based: silk, wool, alpaca, camel or angora.

Soaking In Vinegar

You first need to soak the fiber to be dyed in a vinegar water bath with a pH of 4.5 to 5.0. You need about a tablespoon of vinegar for every quart of water. Note: the acidity of water varies so check with pH paper and adjust if necessary. Strips to measure pH are readily available at many drugstores and retail outlets.

Dye Liquor

For a medium shade, mix 1/4 teaspoon dye in 1/2 cup water. Use more dye for darker shades, less for lighter. Mix as many colors as you want.

Dyeing

Remove the yarn from the vinegar soak and gently squeeze out excess water. Lay it in a nonreactive baking pan - do not use anything with a non-stick coating. You can use enamelware, glass and stainless steel but do not use aluminum, copper or steel. Arrange the yarn anyway you like: fold, tie, twist, spiral and/or zigzag. You can apply the dye in various ways; a squeeze bottle, a syringe or a sponge paintbrush. You can just simply pour it on the area you choose if you like. Remove any excess from the pan with a syringe.

Heating

Rinse out excess dye from the yarn - the water should run clear - and wash with a mild soap. It's important to use soap as it's best to find out if the garment is non-fast now rather than later after you've made it into something. Rinse again well and hang to dry. You are ready to knit with your own hand-dyed yarn.