While Fire Beard and I were in North Carolina I visited a few yarn stores up in Ashville. Ashville, if you are not familiar with the city, could easily be referred to as the Portland of the South East. It is packed with Locally Owned stores, coffee roasters, breweries, street musicians, and crafters. I am a big fan.

Downtown, on Wall street, a few store fronts from a climbing gym and vegan friendly restaurant, is Purl. It is the only yarn store I have ever been in that had more male customers than female, and the only yarn store I have ever been in that is organized primarily by color. I expect it would be a dream come true for a yarn driven knitter, but as a pattern driven knitter, the yarn organization is not my cup of tea. I find it hard to find what I am looking for at Purl without asking for help, but it is wonderful visual inspiration.

I was very happy to see truly local, North Carolina Spun yarn represented at Purl. The local yarn was a surprisingly competitive price, but I was a bit disappointed with the quality of the spinning. The local yarn that I saw was inconsistently spun singles. It looked lumpy, rather than artistically thick and thin. I did not buy any. Nevertheless, it was very nice to see a local product, and I plan to buy some next time if the quality is better.

We also stopped at Yarn Paradise, on the south side of Ashville, and there I did buy a couple of skeins.

Yarn Paradise is a fairly average, but well run yarn store. It has a large selection of well-known yarn brands, and the staff was friendly, helpful, and quick to steer me toward the sales. I picked up two skeins of Malabrigo Finito in Paloma, a yarn Malabrigo produces only once a year from the finest quality wool available. It is incredibly soft and beautiful. I think it may become a scarf or small shawl.

I still have a few yarn stores to visit next time I’m in Ashville, and I am hoping I will find one that has the character and personality of Purl, with the management of Yarn Paradise. Any recommendations?

Rit is an inexpensive dye that can be found in the laundry section of grocery stores across America. If you are an average American that wants to dye a piece of cotton clothing Rit is probably the dye you will turn to. I myself have turned to Rit on multiple occasion to dye clothes, and on multiple occasions I have been disappointed with the results.

What I had not realized is that Rit is an acid dye, and despite the proclamation on the box that it is suitable for dying cotton, Rit, like all acid dyes, is terrible at dying cotton. To dye plant fibers, like cotton or linen, you would use a fiber reactive dye. To dye an animal fiber like wool or silk,you would use an acid dye, like Rit.

How to Dye Wool Yarn with Rit - Uniform Color

I started with some yarn I had previously dyed with a food safe acid dye. I had not been happy with the washed out red, and decided to over dye it with Rit's dark red wine color.

Since I wanted uniform color, I started with a dye pot large enough for my yarn to move freely. I filled it with water, my dye, a cup of vinegar, and my yarn (already wet). Then I turned up the heat.

Slowly heat the water to almost boiling, and occasionally move the yarn within the pot very gently. As the dye is absorbed, the water will become lighter in color.

When the water is as light as it is going to get (clear if you added just the right amount of dye), and you yarn is the color you want, turn off the heat, and let the water slowly cool.

When the yarn has cooled, fill a container with water the SAME temperature as the water in the dye pot, then rinse your yarn. If all of your dye was incorporated you should see little to no color run off.

Now it's your turn! ~Gerwerken

Note: When dying your yarn take care to change temperatures slowly and move the yarn gently. Abrupt temperature changes and agitation of the yarn will turn it into a large felted lump. Also, don't use kitchen implements that will later be used to cook food!

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Asheville Yarn Shops

Dying Wool Yarn with Rit

Gerwerken Crafts