Hand Colored Yarn Tutorial

Hey everybody!
Today I have something super neat to share. Hand colored yarn! And I know what you're thinking--"Ah... you certainly aren't the first person to think of this." Well, yes, I know that, but I may just be the first person to think of doing it with... markers!
Yes, you did read that right. I said markers.
What does it look like you may ask? Check it out....

Pretty cool, huh? Yep, I thought so too! So let's get started!

Before you begin:

Be sure to have some nail polish remover or rubbing alcohol at the ready with a cotton ball. Your fingers will get kind of messy. But, trust me, it's totally worth it!

What you'll need:

Markers (Any kind will work. If you are planning on washing your finished garment then you'll want to use sharpies or something permanent. I just used some cheap-o markers I bought at Micheals. After my coupon they were $2.50. Yes, $2.50 for all those!)

Yarn (lightly colored, otherwise your colors won't show up)

Next, you'll want to pick out a color scheme. I suppose you could just do random colors and that would look equally nice. But I decided on purple, brown and blue.

Now, you'll want to figure out how to hold your yarn. I like to hold mine with my pointer and middle finger holing the end portion of the yarn and my ring finger and thumb holding the yarn coming from the skein. Like so:

Now for the fun part! Coloring! Take your marker and gently but firmly rub it up and down the section of yarn you are holding.

Use your thumb to rotate the yarn around so you can coat all sides of the yarn.
Now pull about a foot of yarn through your fingers and repeat. Do this until you have a length of yarn suitable for your project. Then snip your yarn. Remember, the farther you space your color sections, the faster it will go. After you have a good amount, you should be looking at this:

Now color that same length of yarn with the next color in your scheme. And then the third. You can space your sections however you wish. Put them right up close to each other or farther apart. Either way looks wonderful when you crochet or knit it up. Right about now you should have this:

Lovely! Now your yarn is ready to be made into something wonderful! I just made a swatch so you can get the idea of what it looks like:

Love, love, love. The possibilities are simply endless! Imagine leopard print or zebra. Rainbow maybe! So go grab some of your white yarn and make some! I can guarantee you that you'll love it!You're kids may even enjoy coloring the yarn as well! Let me know what you think! 

Enjoy!
Grace Ann