What colour of roving do you use for skin coloured wool? I had some from Acorn's Journey in a colour called Sand that was pretty good, but a wee bit pricey, looking for larger quantities :).

I've gotten good skin colors by dyeing with pink lemonade kool-aid mixed with yellow lemonade kool-aid

A little coffee, a couple drops of pink food dye and a couple drops of yellow (from the neon food coloring pack) in about 5 cups of water makes a great flesh tone.

Hmm, that sounds easy Lisa, how are you setting the colour? Steam, vinegar or?

vinegar & heat ;pot:

i recently dyed using earl gray tea and it came out great. 5 teabags in a pint glass, a wee bit of vinegar. it worked. now, for darker colored skin, i still have to try something. maybe more tea bags?

So, now I have to admit it...I'm sort of intimidated by dyeing wool, I'm afraid that the roving might felt! how do you apply the heat and vinegar without running into felting issues?

I am dyeing Patons merino yarn not roving. From my understanding its not the heat that felts but the agitation or moving the wool while its hot that felts it. I bought some yarn and spent the day making flesh colors for my gnomes. Some combos turned out great and others were yuck. You could test on small scraps. The amount of dye or length you leave the wool in makes a huge difference. My favorite color was from my english walnuts. :heart:

So, now I have to admit it...I'm sort of intimidated by dyeing wool, I'm afraid that the roving might felt! how do you apply the heat and vinegar without running into felting issues?


like the PP said, it's the agitation in combination with the heat that felts. so when dyeing, you just have to handle the roving really gently. :)

oh, and some sources recommend carding the roving again after dyeing, because it does become a little more tangled. but i haven't done it, and no problems so far!

Thanks! I'll just have to get brave!