This time last week I was taking a Natural Dyeing Weekend - learning how to use natural dyes to colour yarn. It was just wonderful - fantastic weather (if a wee bit hot!), great company and at the end of the weekend I came home with some beautifully coloured yarn.
The first photo shows my yarns before I went - a selection of natural alpaca (cream) and rose-grey and rusty alpaca, Lopi wool and a Touch of Alpaca (80% wool & 20% alpaca) - all from Vancouver Island. I bought some silk which I wound into 50m skeins and attached to the yarn. You can also see some yarn that I had already dyed with indigo from last year (more about that in my next post!).
The second photo shows the yarns that have been dyed with indigo (blues), logwood (purples) and cochineal (pinks). The logwood gave some lovely varied purples depending on the yarn used and the amount of time it was in the dye pot.
The third photo shows the yarns dyed with fustic, osage orange and weld which all give a range of yellows and then greens when iron is added. The lovely red on the left is madder and next to it was an experiment with walnut shells which gave a warm, chocolate brown.
The last two photos show all our yarns hanging up to dry and a group shot!
I'm raring to try some natural dyes on my own - Elaine does a lot in the winter months using a crock pot! Watch this space.....................................................
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