Some may think curly dock is a weed, and an unwelcome one at that. I happen to like mine so much, I go to a vacant lot to collect a pound of plant matter. My curly dock are still happy in the ground!
The Lizard provides rusty screws for me to create my own iron mordant. Soak airtight for a day or two in vinegar water.
I chop up the curly dock and bring it to simmer in the cheapest stock pot I could find... $6 at the department store. The pot is marked so we remember never to use it for food.
Then I hank both cotton and wool yarn.
By the time I finish putting the yarn into hanks and tying them securely, the dye bath is ready! I strain it with a regular strainer and a folded paper towel outside on the porch, so as not to accidentally spill any dye on the kitchen floor. The strainer is now marked so we remember never to use it for food.
The plant matter starts out as green, and it smells somewhat like cooking spinach with a bit of vinegar during the hour or so it simmers. But the dye bath is bold gold!
Just as I finish the dye bath, the sky smiles its approval in grand, colorful style!
I mordant the cotton and the wool in the cleaned dye pot, using alum and cream of tartar.
The wool goes in and promptly turns yellow, but I allow it to simmer for about an hour.
The cotton is much lighter than the wool.
I hadn't planned to mordant all the yarn in my rusty water, but I'm not much of a yellow person, even though the shades I got are attractive. I'd read the iron will make the colors "sad" by dulling and darkening them. I was hoping for a chartreuse, which I get on the initial cotton dunk, but the yarn gets darker while it waits for me to snap a photo. I don't make that mistake again.
I decide I'd like the wool a little less "cheery" too, so I briefly dunk it in the rusty water, hoping again for chartreuse. Not quite, but I like what I got. The process is indeed super fast, so I don't stop for photos this time.
The second hank of cotton goes in the same dye bath after the first two hanks are done. The color comes out lighter, which I really like! Again, I do the iron mordant for only a few seconds. Not truly chartreuse, but I do like the shade, and it goes so well with the darker one!
All three colors, two cotton and one wool, hang to dry for about 24 hours.
After winding the hanks, I'm ready to knit! But what shall I make???
Nice with the wool and if people don't like the weeds, all the more for you.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely, Pat! I hear other natural dyers saying their neighbors thank them for pulling their weeds!
DeleteIt came out really nice.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Michelle!
DeleteI really like the wool shade!
ReplyDeleteOf course you WON'T be making yellow snowflakes.... ;)
I think Colorado should be called the "Rainbow State". My goodness, you get a lot of them. (Not to mention the ones you cook up in your dye pot.)
Nope, no yellow snowflakes, Sue. But I'm thinking this might make a nice shawl or vest, with stripes of other natural dyed yarn. My goal is five hanks of different hues.
DeleteGot to say that is some fine muck you cooked up.
ReplyDeleteIt certainly was, Stratoz. Great for the garden, too!
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