I was experimenting with natural dyes again this week. This time I used brazilwood and I absolutely love the color I achieved. I am really pleased this time around.I kept everything at a very low simmer, really not even a simmer, and I think that is why I managed to get such clear colors. I added a small amount of baking soda to the dyebath to make it more alkaline which would help me in getting the pinkish purple colors I was after. The pictures I took really do not give the yarn any justice. They are so pretty and the camera just sort of muted them.

I ended up using the dyebath 3 times. Brazilwood is so strong that you can use one dyebath several times. Also you can remove the chips from the pot once you have your dyebath and allow them to dry out. Then the chips (or sawdust as it is sometimes sold) can be used a few more times. The first skein in my dyebath turned out a beautiful magenta. The second skein was considerably lighter, a sort of pink with a very light magenta to it. The third skein was definitely lighter. It turned out a very soft pink.

The first two skeins are a blend of merino wool and silk in a fingering weight and I just love how the silk gives them a little bit of a shine. The light catches them and it is very pretty. The third skein I am rather disappointed with. Not because of the color which is nice, but because of the yarn itself. It is a yarn I have never dyed with before and thought I would try out. I bought a whole pound of it and am very unsatisfied with how it performed while being dyed. As I previously mentioned, I never really brought the dyebath to a simmer and yet this yarn wanted to start felting! Take that aside and the third skein is also a very nice color.

I can not wait to get these wound into balls and cast-on something with them! I already know what I plan on doing with skein #2. It is destined to be turned into a pair of lace socks.

Oh, and in case anyone is interested here is a picure of the brazilwood chips themselves. Looks kinda like something you might mulch your flower bed with right?!

For the 2 ounces of onion skins I ended up using 3 ½ ounces (the whole skein) of Patons Classic wool yarn. Because I was feeling lazy and just wanted to jump right into dyeing I didn’t bother with mordanting the yarn. If I had I would have used alum which is my mordant of choice. I soaked the yarn overnight in cool water to thoroughly saturate it.

To prepare the onion skins I placed them in my dye pot and filled it with tap water. I then slowly brought the water to a simmer and held it there for one hour. After that I contemplated straining the dye bath but then decided to let the onion skins sit in it over night and cool.

For day two I was going to strain out the onion skins before adding the yarn to the now cooled dye bath but at the last minute decided to leave them in and see what would happen. I did take a picture of the cooled dye bath and it shows what a deep golden color I ended up with.

To the cooled dye I added my soaked yarn and slowly brought the bath up to a simmer. I keep it at a simmer for one hour. Once it was done simmering I let the yarn cool completely in the bath before I removed it and washed it out.

After I removed the yarn I noted that there was still a significant amount of color left in the dye bath so I decided for the heck of it to see if I could get a little bit more out of it. So, I prepared 1 ½ ounces of wool yarn by soaking it for several hours. I used less yarn this time only because I was unsure of the outcome and didn’t want to waste too much yarn if I didn’t like the results.  No mordant again. I then added this yarn to the pot and simmered for once again another hour.

So to conclude, the first batch of yarn came out a very deep rusty gold color, sort of like a burnt orange and the second batch was very noticeably lighter. It is more of a light red orange. I was actually very surprised by these two batches. I was not expecting such orange colors. But that is the fun part of using natural dyes! You never really know what is going to come out of the dye pot until you are done!

They both went through their first washing together. I washed them on cold to help slow down any fading that might happen. When they came out of the wash I was shocked.  The pretty pale lilac color that I had achieved from the dye mixed with vinegar was now a muddy purple and the soft sage green that came from the baking soda mix turned a more yellowy green. I was not expecting those kinds of results at all! I was expecting some fading but instead I got total color changes. That tells me there is something up with my tap water since I had used rainwater to make the red cabbage dye. I am a little frustrated with that! Obviously my tap water ph is whacked or full of something that affected the yarn. If I dye something with rainwater how am I suppose to wash it when it gets dirty? Use rainwater?! I had previously checked my tap water’s ph by using those little test strips but I think they were no good because they wouldn’t change or show any kind of reading. Now I am wondering what exactly my tap water ph is for the yarn to change so dramatically.

A few years back I used to have a fresh water fish tank and I would test the water to make sure it was healthy for the fish. I had this little kit that would tell you how to read the results and what to do if your water was too high in ammonia or the ph wasn’t quite right. I’m thinking I might try one of those kits to test my tap water. They are easily found at any pet store and I know I’ll get decent results to tell me what might be making my yarn change color like it did.

The socks don’t look all that bad. Although I did like the colors better before they were washed. They are not as bright now. The pictures I am including in this post are before being washed and after. The pictures don’t show the color change in the green as well as but they do give the general impression of the change in the purple.

I know in my last post I said it had been quite a week but it has actually been quite a month. 2008 is starting with a bang for us. It has been one thing after another in our house. Thankfully it seems everyone is starting to feel a little better.

My blog and knitting/yarn dyeing have been somewhat neglected while I was busy attending to everything else. But, I am happy to report that I finally finished knitting the second pair of toddler socks out of the Cabbage Yarn last night! I didn’t think I was ever going to get those darn socks finished! It was frustrating me to death, after all, they are only little baby socks. I should be able to knock those out super fast but, it has been quite a month and I was lucky if I could get one or two rounds completed on them a day. I kept thinking, Princess A is going to outgrow these before she even gets to try them on! At least I was able to finish them. Now I feel like I can move on to the other patterns and yarn I am itching to get my fingers on. Those socks were guilt tripping me all over the place. I would pick up one of my other works in progress and feel a wave of guilt and hear a little voice say, “you know what you should really be working on, those little socks, not this.” I kept feeling like I had to work on them because: a) I didn’t want her to outgrow them before they were even completed and b) I really want to get her wearing them so I can wash them a few times and see what happens to the color. Will it fade or not? I have read in more than one place that yarn dyed with red cabbage is not very colorfast. I want to see for myself and I needed to finish knitting those socks in order to find out.

They haven’t gone through any washings yet but once they do I will be sure to post the results here for those that might be interested.

I think the socks themselves turned out pretty cute. I just love the colors I got from the red cabbage. The green is a very soft color and looks really good up against the lavender. I am very interested to see how the colors hold up after being washed a few times.

Now that those are done I can finally move on to some new projects! Well, I still have to finish the striped cardigan and the striped pullover for Princess A. Now those are probably going to start guilt tripping me next. After all, I have got to finish them before the weather decides to warm up and she will no longer need sweaters.

Yesterday I finished knitting this pair of mittens for my youngest son, L-man. He likes bright and crazy colors so these fit his personality perfectly. And I am hoping that considering how bright they are they will be hard to loose! Both yarns I hand dyed. The orange is dyed with annatto seeds. The yellow and green is the yarn that I dyed with marigolds that I posted about: here.

I struggled with finding a pattern I liked for these particular mittens. I ended up using the pattern from One-Skein Wonders titled Easy Mittens. The pattern does not have a ribbed cuff but I added a 2×2 ribbing because I happen to like that look and felt they would stay on an active nine year old a little better. I also modified the pattern a little bit more when it came to sizing because the pattern was designed for a woman’s hand not a child’s. Unfortunately, I had to measure his hand a couple of times and have him try on the mitten half way through to make sure it was fitting right. I say unfortunately because now he knows all about it and I really can not give them as a gift like I had originally wanted! He is excited about them none the less which is cute. Last spring he planted the marigolds from seed so the yarn that was dyed with them has a special meaning to him. I find that to be really cool! He witnessed the whole transformation from start to finish. Pretty darn cool I would say.