Dyeing with Bare Hare

When Bare Hare arrived to at our office, everyone’s first reaction was to uncontrollably “ohhh!” and “ahhhh” over how incredibly squishy and soft it was. Then almost immediately afterward, it seemed as though the same idea popped up for everyone at the same time – Bare Hare is an undyed yarn, which means you can dye it whatever shade is your color of choice! All of us have had previous dyeing experience and so of course, we couldn’t help but jump over to the dyeing section of the Knit Picks website to check out the different dyes and colors.

In addition to the Jacquard dyes, we were also drawn to the Earthues and Greener Shades dyes. And because we loved Bare Hare so much, we thought – why not experiment a bit and try out all three different types of dyes? I had been wanted to try out the Greener Shades Dyes, so I opted for the Coral Reef Aqua. Stacey chose Emerald in the Jacquard Dyes and Kerin went with the Earthues natural dyes.

Here is the result of our Bare Hare dyeing extravaganza, I love how they turned out!

Our new special reserve yarn, Bare Hare, is an amazing blend of 80% wool and 20% angora with a tighter, yet bouncy twist. We were all anxious to see what it would dye up like, especially considering the angora content of the yarn. That next weekend, we gathered up our dyes and supplies and go to work.

As I mentioned earlier, all three of us took home a different kind of dye. Stacey used a Jacquard dye, which is an acid dye that is available in a stunning range of colors (27 to be exact!). And if you can’t decide on just one color, you can also get the Jacquard Start Set which includes 6 basic colors which include a warm and cool red, a warm and cool blue, yellow and black.

Kerin used Earthues for her Bare Hare, which comes available in a Botanical Dye Kit. These are natural dyes that don’t use any harsh chemicals and the kit comes with osage orange, lac, logwood grey and cutch (Kerin used the Lac for hers).

And finally, I got the chance to try out Greener Shades which are low-impact and environmentally-friendly dyes. I used the Coral Reef Aqua since any shade of blue is my favorite color, and I can’t wait to cast on with it for a project.

It was so fun to see how everyone’s yarn turned out! And somewhat to our surprise, all three of our yarns turned out with
lovely, vivid colors. We were so thrilled that Bare Hare took all three
different types of dyes to beautifully.

If you are interesting in trying your hand at dyeing, don’t forget to check out our selection of dyeing tutorials! In addition to tutorials for jacquard dyes, we even have handy tutorials for natural dyeing, dyeing with tea, dyeing with kool-aid, and more!

Check out our full selection of tutorials to get started dyeing:

Dyeing Tutorials

And here is where to find the dyes we used for our colors pictured above:

Jacquard Acid Dyes
Earthues Botanical Dye Kit
Greener Shades Dyes

Now I have one lovely skein of Bare Hare in an amazing teal color that makes me so happy! I just have to figure out the right project for my Bare Hare – I’m thinking either a hat or a cowl. There are 219 yards in one skein, so I have to choose carefully! I have made a little swatch, and I quite like it knit up at a looser gauge on a size 5 needle. I’d love to hear your suggestions on what to do with my teal Bare Hare!

What are some of your favorite ways to dye yarn?