Whether you’re a pro or a beginner, there are a couple of tricks to using hand dyed yarn that ensure a successful and beautiful finished object! We have a lot of experience using hand dyed yarn that we wanted to share with you before you start knitting:

- Hand dyed skeins generally do not have a dye lot in the same way that commercially dyed yarn does. Because of this, we recommend ensuring that you purchase enough yarn from the same batch to complete your project.

- Even if you have enough yarn from the same batch, there can be a lot of variation from skein to skein. To prevent colour pooling or blotches in your finished object, we recommend alternating skeins (knitting one row from ball A followed by one row from ball B) throughout your project, or for a few rows when finishing one ball and starting a new one. This helps blend the two skeins together for a seamless join.

- Dyed yarn, whether it’s hand dyed or commercially dyed, may bleed during washing or knitting/making. If you’re super concerned about this, we suggest soaking your yarn in cool water and a 1/4 cup of vinegar (per litre) for 30 minutes, then rinsing your yarn until the water runs clear. This can help reduce or eliminate dye rub off or colour running.

- Finished knitting already? You can also wash your finished projects in a vinegar/water solution to help mitigate bleeding.

- Lastly, the recommendation no knitter likes hearing - make a swatch! Treat the swatch like a finished object and watch how it behaves during the knitting and washing process. You might find out that one colour bleeds a ton or that the colour pools in a way you don’t like. A swatch is your friend - knitting one can help you avoid painful mishaps with that special unique skein.