Sockpile

My sock pile is growing, so many socks and so little time!

I'm currently working on a pair of socks for my daughter. I told her that if she wants more, she'll need to learn to knit socks!

I have at least 3 other projects to finish at any given time. I don't want to have UFOs (Unfinished Objects) lying around my house.

Mordant and Dyeing Times

The natural dyes previously listed in the blog are all done with the following methods. All mordants were mixed in pot of water and brought to a simmer. The skeins of yarn were then added and allowed to simmer for one hour. Then the heat source was turned off and the yarn was allowed to soak overnight in the mordant solution.

The dyestuff was used at a 2:1 ratio, twice the amount of dye material to the wool weight (often referred to as WOG - weight of goods). This was brought to a simmer and allowed to continue simmering for 30 minutes. The dyestuff was strained off and the strained dyewater was poured back into the pot. The yarn was added and allowed to simmer for 30 minutes. After the yarn was removed it was spun to remove excess water then rinsed in clear water and spun again before hanging to dry. When I refer to spun, basically spin the hank of yarn around your wrist to sling out excess water.

The brazilwood and logwood were purchased from a supplier. All other materials were gathered locally, mostly from my property. The brazilwood chips were added to a pot of water and allowed to soak overnight before proceeding with the usual dyeing procedure. The logwood was an extract (purple) and was just mixed in a pot of water before using. No presoaking was necessary for the extract.

Brazilwood

Brazilwood bark extract was used.

Pre-mordants used were L-R: Alum, Tin, Copper, Iron

Dyed on Shetland white wool.

No assists were used.

First two samples show Alum pre-mordant with 15 minutes in dyebath and second was 30 minutes.

Goldenrod - leaves and stems

Goldenrod - leaves and stems were used.

Pre-mordants used L-R: Alum, Tin, Copper, None

Dyed on Shetland white wool.

No assists were used.

Goldenrod - flowers

Goldenrod flowers were used.

Pre-mordants used L-R: Alum, Tin, Copper, None

Dyed on Shetland white wool.

No assists were used.

Zinnia

Zinnia using the flowers.

Pre-mordants L-R: Alum, Tin, Copper, Iron

Dyed on Shetland white wool.

No assists were used.

Tansy

Tansy using the flowers.

Pre-mordants used L-R: Alum, Tin, Copper, None

Dyed on Shetland white wool.

No assists were used.

Staghorn Sumac

Staghorn Sumac using berries.

Pre-mordant L-R: Alum, Tin, Copper, Iron

Dyed on Rambouillet white wool

No assists were used.

St. John's Wort

St. John's Wort flowers were used.

Pre-mordant used L-R: Alum, Tin, Copper, Iron

Dyed on Shetland white wool

No assists were used.

Logwood

Logwood using bark extract - purple.

Pre-mordants used L-R: Alum, Tin, Copper, Iron

Dyed on Shetland white wool

No assists were used.

Two left samples were both Alum, one in dyebath 15 minutes and the right for 30 minutes.

Madder

Madder using roots.

Pre-mordants used L-R: Alum, Tin, Copper, Iron

Dyed on Shetland white wool

No assists were used.

Marigold

Marigold using flowers.

Pre-mordants L-R: Alum, Tin, Copper, Iron

Dyed on white rambouillet wool

No assists were used.

Mullein

Mullein dyed using the leaves and stems.

Pre-mordants used from L-R: Alum, Tin, Copper, Iron

Dyed on white rambouillet wool

No assists were used

County Fair

This is the Spirit of the Woods Garden Club exhibit at the Manistee County Fair 2007. We won a first place blue ribbon and a Best in Show!

Natural Dyeing Intro

Well it's my first attempt at blogging...never thought I'd start a blog. Lately I've been doing some natural dyeing with the wool from my sheep on my farm and I thought I'd post pictures of some of the results. I chaired the project for the county fair for the garden club, "Plants to Dye For" and we got a blue ribbon and Best in Show. I've discovered that a lot of others that are into natural dyeing want to see the color results, so a blog seemed like the way to go. I hope you like what I have to share. I'll be getting into some acid dyes soon and I'll post those adventures too.