Painted Yarns

Here are two balls of hand painted yarn. yes, I painted them myself. The process was simple. I first unwound the balls of store bought, cotton yarn onto a skein winder, then I tied the skeins so they wouldn't come tangled. I dunked them in plain water, applied the textile paint & allowed it to sit for a while so the yarn would absorb the paint. Then, I laid them out in the sun to dry. Once dry I zapped the yarns in the microwave for 3 minutes each. Next, I rewound the skeins back into balls. The longest part was waiting for the yarn to dry. It takes a hot sunny day for best results. The paints make the yarns a bit stiffer than dyes do because the paint sits on top of the fibers instead of becoming part of the fiber like dye would. I found a source for natural, plain yarns to dye or paint. I'll probably do this again.