What To Do About Running or Bleeding Yarn Dye

You've created a knitted or crocheted project with some beautiful yarn, and when you try to wet block it, the wash water is full of dye bleeding! What to do?

Dye bleeding is a fairly common issue with hand-dyed and occasionally commercially dyed yarns. Click this link for an excellent explanation by knitcrate.com on why it happens. 

I've discovered Dr. Beckmann Colour & Dirt Collector sheets, and they've completely solved the problem. Here's a recent example of my experience.

I knitted a hat with red worsted acrylic/wool blend yarn, and when I tried to wash it, the sink was full of red dye. Not acceptable, as it could transfer to someone's collar or other clothing when damp from snow or rain.

I use Scentless Soak for all my projects. I fill the sink with tepid water (neither hot nor cold), add a cap full of Soak, and push my garment down into the water until it's fully immersed and the air bubbles are gone. Here you can see the red dye that bled into the water.

This is a photo of my box of Dr. Beckmann's Colour & Dirt Collector.

I only used one sheet for this wash. If a huge amount of dye ran, I would have used 2 or even 3.

Place the sheet in the water, swish it around the garment, and let sit for 15-20 minutes. The dye still looks like it's there, but the magic happens in the rinse water. I removed the sheet, squeezed the water out of the hat, and refilled the sink with tepid clean water. Although Soak instructions say that you don't have to rinse, I always do. This photo shows the rinse water colour and the used Colour Collector. This water still has a slight tint of red, so I would probably repeat the process with a new sheet.

The instructions on the back of the box:

I found these at my local drug store in the laundry detergent aisle. They are also available on Amazon:

Canada 

United States

I keep a few boxes on hand for this situation. I have no affiliation with this product and will not make any money promoting it. I just love a useful product - in fact, I include them in my Not Just Socks Yarn Box if you're interested in trying them out and getting some yarn and other goodies!