Give It A Try! Kitchen Dyed Yarn

​I'm Christine Weiss, the resident indie dyer at the shop at the moment. You have access to a kit of my yarn in the 2024 ADVENTure Collection which is available right now in the store or online. There are also a few skeins from The Darling Yarn Company (that's me) still available from my summer dye sessions. They are on the shelves next to other Indie Dyed yarns. In fact, there is a lot of Indie Dyed yarn at the shop, like Spun Right Round and Emma's (some of my faves). That is one of the special reasons our customers love the small yarn shops over the big box stores, we get some amazing yarn that comes from the imaginations of some talented people. 

Back to me! My yarn is unique in that I use exclusively plant based dyes and exclusively non-superwash yarns. I do this because I wanted to return to a process like the one when making our clothing was not toxic to the planet.  Prior to the invention of acid dyes, fiber artists, servants (and homemaking women) used various ways to get color from plants. Yes, some of those methods were pretty toxic because back then they sometimes used copper and lead, but for the most part getting color from plants is a time consuming, but clean process. Getting the color onto fiber is done using a mordant and heat to get the lasting results. Back in the day, they may have chosen urine to mordant yarns, nowaddays we use a variety of alum products. Alum is a non toxic chemical which you find in many foods (such as pickles), cosmetics, medicines and in water treatment to purify tap water.  Not all plant dyes need mordants, many of the grays, beiges and browns from tree nuts stay on yarn just fine. But mordants in general are used to help plant dyes stay on the yarn for years of wear. You know those tapestries you see at the art museum, or in the natural history museum? Those are plant dyed. I use some of these same dyes, like madder and indigo, and I have access to other very local dyes like golden rod and oak.

Learning how to dye with plants was by trial and error, and happily there are a lot of helpful people on the internet. You do have to weed out some of those who suggest you dye with turmeric or wine, nice color until the sun comes out, then poof, bye bye.  I have figured out what stays (non-fugitive) and what does not (fugitive). If you ever have questions about dyeing yarn with plants feel free to reach out to me, I am happy to teach you what I have learned.

Here's the recipe
Here is a quick recipe that does not use mordant:- clean four or five avocado skins and the seeds and simmer these on the stove in enough water to cover them plus an inch. Keep the simmer very low for about 2 hours. It is better to not get to simmer than to get to boiling. You will see the liquid turn to dark pink.  Allow the  mixture to cool over night. Strain the liquid into a pot and add a few inches of water and a teaspoon of baking soda. Find an undyed 100g skein of yarn, as light as you can. Untwist the skein, but keep the ties in! Soak that skein in water for an hour until it is wetted through. Place that skein in the avocado water and heat this on the stove. Keep the fan on or ensure good ventilation. Be sure the water completely covers the skein. Add tap water if it does not. This time, do not allow the mixture to simmer, a thermometer should read between 140-160 degrees Fahrenheit. Hold the heat here for up to an hour moving the yarn every 15 minutes or so to even out color, then allow the entire mixture to cool over night. Remove the yarn and squeeze out any liquid then rinse under cool water. Re-soak in a basin of water with a drop of clear dish soap or wool wash for 15 minutes. Rinse thoroughly. Allow the skein to dry and wind, it is ready for use. I often cure my skeins. To do this, when I remove them from the color pot, I squeeze out excess water and let them hang dry for a few days before I rinse or wash them. Some of us think this deepens the color. If you do not have avocados, you can use brown onions skins, the completely dryed bits. Place a few cups of these in a pan and follow the same directions as for avocados, but do not add baking soda. The avocados produce pink, the onions skins make a wonderful rusty orange. The two colors actually look fabulous together if you have two blanks skeins.  

I do hope you enjoy finding your perfect skein as you do using it! Making knitting and crocheting a thought filled, intentional endeavor maximizes the fun!

Go Easy,
Christine Weiss
Favorite yarn that's in the shop right now:
There is some pretty amazing Amano Mayu alpaca yarn that I have my eye on (available in the shop)
Favorite "unyarn" that's in the shop right now:
That's easy, the Mini Minder, for holding a skein on the go! (available online and in the shop)
Hobby (other than fiber arts):
Hiking.

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