To make a dye using flowers, herbs, roots, or bark, simply chop the items finely, and follow the dye preparation steps noted above in the fruits and vegetables section to create your coloring mixture. Coffee, tea, onion skins, turmeric, avocado pits, crushed berries, and more all make excellent wool dyes. Any botanical you can extract dye from has the potential to be a good wool dye. Rinse all the excess liquid out of the yarn from its soak (leaving it damp) and place it on the cling film ready to dye. The blogs I was reading suggested straining out the nettle leaves to get the dye mixture, but I just put an old colander into the pot and put my yarn inside that to keep it separate from the leaves. Yarn soaking in nettle dye liquid But you should pre-soak the wool in an acidic solution first before dyeing. Citric acid or white vinegar are favorites for DIY dyeing.

Dying in the Wool: A Kate Shackleton Mystery (A Kate Dying in the Wool: A Kate Shackleton Mystery (A Kate

Searching for people and information, sifting through the ashes of war's aftermath, drew me deeper into sleuthing. Where I failed for myself, I succeeded for others. It's something useful I can do. Step 1: Pour the distilled white vinegar and the salt in the glass measuring cup or microwave safe bowl. There was no pink in the second hank but it did come out a lovely, almost minty olive green colour. This ball reused the original dye liquid with added lemon juice with the yarn still wound in a hank when in the dye potIt’s a different story with wool. When dyeing wool, you want to avoid any excessive stirring and agitation. You can swish the wool once and very gently. A large container to soak your yarn. Plastic or metal is fine (apparently aluminium gives brighter colours) but something which won’t stain. Therefore, ensure the dye you choose is acidic and not alkaline. There’s also no need to add soda ash, as most cotton dyeing recipes suggest.

dyed-in-the-wool - Wiktionary, the free dictionary dyed-in-the-wool - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Time to start the day. From downstairs came the sound of the letter box, first a rattle then a series of gentle thuds as post hit the mat. I will definitely give this another go some time. I think I would prefer to continue playing with the natural dyes. I have an elderflower tree right near my house so when the berries come out I will use the harvest! Using acids such as acetic acid, white vinegar, or citric acid in the recipe is one way to dye wool, but it’s not the best method since it can cause the wool to weaken and break apart.

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If I were to name the colourway I would call it “Winter is Here”! (Yes, I write this in the throes of Game of Thrones final season obsession!) Dying with Nettles At the end of 2017 I went to a hand dying yarn workshop at Toft’s stunning alpaca farm and yarn sanctuary. It was so much fun and I’ve wanted to have another go ever since. Finally I got around to it and wanted to share the experience and give you some pitfalls to avoid if you want to give it a go!