Darn Good Yarn Of The Month Subscription Review – July 2018
Darn Good Yarn of the Month is an affordable subscription box from Darn Good Yarn. For only $10/month, you’ll receive a skein of premium yarn, a pattern, and a free gift.
This subscription is being reviewed thanks to an MSA reader request!
My Subscription Addiction paid for this box. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)
About Darn Good Yarn of the Month
The Subscription Box: Darn Good Yarn of the Month
The Cost: $10/month + shipping
The Products: One skein of premium yarn, a pattern, and a free gift.
Ships to: US ($4/continental US) and international ($13/Alaska, Hawaii, US territories, and other countries)
Our July Box Review
For just $10/month + shipping, this subscription is so affordable that it’s worth keeping for a few months just to see the variety. You can check out past reviews here to see what else we’ve received.
This month was definitely a surprise, in a good way!
Darn Good Yarn usually sends you one skein of yarn, a knitting and crochet pattern, and a bonus item. This month, the bonus item is a set of dyes so you can dye your own yarn!
I’ve seriously been thinking that I’ve wanted to try my hand at dyeing lately so this was an amazing coincidence!
Darn Good Yarn Lace Weight Silk Yarn in “White & Dyeable”, 300 yards – Retail Value $13.99
Since there’s a dyeing project in addition to the knitting and crochet patterns this month, we received a white lace weight silk yarn that is ready for some color.
It’s more of a roving style thick-and-thin type yarn, very different from the spun silk we received in last month’s box.
Here are the two dyes we received to play with: a bright orange and pretty neon pink. The bottles themselves aren’t labeled with a size or a brand, but the instructions (below) indicate they are food dyes.
Inside of our instruction booklet this month are directions for both a knit and a crochet pattern. The knit version appears to be more of a table runner, while the crochet is for a placemat:
And finally, the DIY yarn dyeing instructions!
The full instructions have to be accessed online, but this one-page outline lets you know which supplies you need from home.
I decided I wanted to try a ‘dip dye’ type effect, so I prepped my yarn according to the directions and then placed one end in the pink dye and the other in the orange. I ended up dripping some spots of orange and pink on the white bit in the center to try and blend them a bit, but I wanted some white to remain.
After soaking for a while, I placed the yarn inside a Tupperware container and let it sit outside for about 24 hours in the summer heat.
It took AGES to rinse until the water was even remotely clear! I feel like the roving style yarn acts like a sponge and really sucked the dye up. But eventually, I was rewarded with this bright and cheerful skein of yarn (still wet in this photo):
Too bright to capture on camera! And note my pink dyed hand, too, I had run out of gloves and decided to risk it. 😉 It all washed off by the next day.
I was curious if the colors would dull a bit as the yarn itself dried, but I was surprised to see that everything is still pretty bright in the end:
I did find that while I was winding this ball up, a little dye transferred to my hands, so I don’t think I rinsed as thoroughly as I should have. I’m debating now if I should put it back into a big loop and try rinsing again, or just go ahead and knit the project first and then wash further.
Verdict: What a cool and unexpected project! Such an approachable and fun way to try yarn dyeing for the first time– and very low pressure given the low price of this box, too. For $10/month plus $4 shipping, Darn Good Yarn is probably the cheapest yarn subscription available.
Since you’ll receive single skeins of yarn each month, I think this subscription is best suited for beginners who want to try lots of new things, or for knitters who prefer small projects. The patterns we have received so far are suitable for knitters who already know the basics of how to knit, purl, decrease, and increase. (I should note that all of the yarns we’ve received so far are silk, which may just be because it’s a great summertime fiber.)
To Wrap Up:
Can you still get this box if you sign up today? No. Boxes ship around the 20th of each month, so the next box will be shipped at the end of August.
Value Breakdown: For $14 ($10 price of box + US shipping) we received 300 yarns of lace-weight recycled silk yarn with a retail value of $13.99, plus supplies for a DIY dye project, and knit & crochet pattern instructions.
Check out all of our Darn Good Yarn reviews and our Darn Good Bead reviews and the Craft Subscription Box Directory for more great beading, craft supply, and DIY project boxes.
Keep Track of Your Subscriptions: Add this box to your subscription list or wishlist!
What did you think of the July 2018 Darn Good Yarn of the Month? Did you try your hand at this project yet? Let us know how yours worked out!
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Written by Lacey Volk
Fiber gal and dyer here! I think part of the reason you’re still having some dye rub-off issues is because silk is weird…it’s best to soak silk in citric acid or vinegar water for a full 24 hours *prior* to dyeing. (For wool, you only need to soak an hour or so.)
For this particular yarn, did you use any other heat besides being put outside in the sun? Dye must have high-temp heat to set properly. For food-grade dyes like this, you can use your microwave, or you can wrap it up in plastic wrap and steam it on the stove. Make sure it’s still wet when you use both these methods. After zapping or steaming, let rest overnight for best results. Dye strikes both going up in temp and then coming back down, and letting this process happen slowly is best.
Also, if you don’t like to work with vinegar but still want to keep things simple, try using unsweetened Kool-Aid packets! Citric acid is built in, so the dye will take.
More notes on silk: it has zero crimp, and won’t bounce back. So I wouldn’t recommend knitting something that needs “memory,” like a hat. But it’s fab for drapey items, like scarves.
HA. The instructions definitely said to microwave it after dyeing and I totally just realized (thanks to your comment) that I missed that step! I bet that’s exactly my issue. Do you think I could still get it wet and microwave it at this point to set it?
And wow, yes, Kool-Aid. I dyed my hair once with it as a teenager and that stuff is definitely permanent! 😉
Yes, ma’am, you can! Zap it then let it rest overnight before rinsing again. Should take care of your problem. 🙂
It’s nice to see this box reviewed. I may need to try it out. I need smaller projects to complete. My cat makes completing any knitting project difficult, but maybe these would get finished! I would like to see some of the projects finished and knit. Or at least pictures of what the pattern should be (I understand why the pattern isn’t posted). I also would like to know if there are any other supplies that may be needed other than standard needles and types of stitches you may need to know to get a sense of level of difficulty.
Side note, anyone find the quote on the side of the box too funny?
Hi Anne! In my verdict, I mentioned that you’ll need to know the basics of knit and purl stitches as well as basic increases and decreases (in this pattern, yarn overs and purling stitches together to decrease) . This box generally doesn’t provide needles, so you will need to have those on hand. And sorry about not having a sample knit in this one — I didn’t knit the yarn up because of my dye transfer snafu, but if you check out the previous reviews there are projects in progress pictured 🙂 So far, I’ve found the patterns included in this subscription to be relatively simple and free of errors, which is nice! Hope that helps!
would like to see a swatch of this knit up!
Did you rinse with vinegar? That should help set the dye.
The instructions have you soak the yarn in vinegar water before you dye, and also include some vinegar when you mix/dilute the dyes themselves… but not in the rinse part. I’ll give that a shot, thank you!
Interesting… How did the yarn knit up in the project? It looks rough.
Silk is an odd fiber! I wouldn’t say it feels rough personally, and it’s easier on my hands than knitting with cotton. But it’s certainly not as bouncy as wool.
I don’t ever work with 100% silk. I like it in a blend.
Some of the DGY silk yarn has had an overwhelming odor that I never could eliminate. Some silk is just…fishy-smelling, almost. And sometimes the DGY silk has barely a trace of odor. You never know what you’ll get.