At the Sock Summit, one of our most popular yarns was Bomballa, mainly because people could see and feel this Clapotis that was knitted with Bomballa.

Because Bamboo is a cellulose fibre, it must be dyed with dyes that are designated as being suitable for cotton.  It is easy to achieve a subtle variegation on Bomballa by using Rit dyes, or Dylon all-purpose dyes.

To achieve the variegation, the instructions that accompany the dyes must be modifed somewhat.  We halved the salt – salt is added to make the colour more even, and deliberately refrained from stirring the yarn in the pot, and left a portion of the yarn out of the pot while the colour struck. If you are dyeing more than one skein, then they should both be treated identically, with the same portion out of the pot.

After a period of time (under 15 minutes), all the yarn was immersed in the pot, and the yarn was simmered in accordance with the directions on the dye.  Once the dyeing was completed, the yarn was placed in a lingerie bag and washed in the washing machine on the gentle cycle.  Some dye did affect the colour of the lingerie bag, so don’t use a brand new one!

We’ve had great success with this method, and below you can see another Bomballa Clapotis that was knitted by my mother after we dyed the yarn together.