I used yarn dyed with madder root extract and eco-dyed yarn with marigolds. What I love about naturally dyed yarns is that all colours go together; some just pop more than others. Here is red yarn and yarn with yellows and green speckles.
Budding Vines Cowl
I have since soaked and blocked the cowl, and I will show it to you next week. It is notable how blocking a garment can make such a difference to the knitted fabric.
Now I am putting together packets of my dried flowers for you. You watched me plant seeds last spring, water and feed the plants all summer, and then harvest the flowers. Soon you’ll be able to dye with my flowers too. Make sure to subscribe to my website so that you don’t miss more details.
Fibre is dry and braided into mini braids. I couldn’t be happier with the results. The star of the show still is that yellow! I love the colours, from a slight peach to buttery yellow to light gray and a warm light tan.
The modifiers I used were iron, cream of tartar, soda ash, and citric acid (not in that order). I used 10% weight of fibre for my alum mordant and 2% to 10% on modifiers. My weight of lupin leaves was very minimal and not weighed.
Hand dyed with Lupin Leaves Lupin and Modifiers
I would say this is a win! I will add these to my collection of combed top experiments for now and spin with them this winter when I’m craving colours from my garden.
My experiment dyeing combed top with Lupin leaves.
I’m bummed. I threw one lupin plant into the compost as it wasn’t flowering. Then I found out you dye with the leaves. Oh well, lesson learned. At least I have one plant left, so I got busy and harvested the leaves I did have.
I used a burner that was advertised to cook a Turkey last thanksgiving. I filled it up a quarter and then added the leaves. I simmered the leaves for an hour and then turned the burner off and let it sit still till the next morning. The following day I poured off the dye bath and divided the liquid into four different pans.
Turkey cooker
In each pan, I put some alum mordant (10% WOF) and the following modifiers: citric acid, iron, cream of tartar, and soda ash. The fibres I used were Polwarth, blue-faced Leicester, and cheviot. I simmered the wool for an hour and then let it sit all day to cool. I have to say this one with soda ash pops with colour! The yellow is like a butter yellow. The dye bath with iron looks like sadden yellow which is what iron does.
Butter yellowSadden with iron
It’s now 8:30pm and I will let it sit till tomorrow morning.
RESULTS
On A Quest For Fibre Dyed Fibre With Lupin
Please remember that this camera is not picking up the complete saturation of colour. Once it’s dry, I will take pictures in my usual spot with high contrast in the background. I just really wanted to share my experience with you as soon as I could
I love the combed top at the bottom. The dye recipe to obtain this colour will be kept in my recipe book for future dyeing for sure! The other shade I’ll keep is the top one done with iron. I wouldn’t use this colour on its own, but with another colour, I would use it for sure.
Well, I better move on, as today is the day I go to Knit City in Vancouver, BC. If you see me, please make sure you stop and introduce yourself; I love to meet my followers in person.
I discovered some amazing plants in my backyard but I don’t know what they are. Can you help me?
Thy are all doing very well! I bought the seeds from Grand Prismatic Seed. I would highly recommend their seeds.
Sand Dock? No idea.Buckthorn?No idea.
I looked at my list of seeds from this year, and the sources I can’t identify are Sand Dock, Murasaki, and Soapwort. Do you think you can match seeds to actual plant?
Oh, I also got those bobbins plied into a skein of yarn. It reminds me of oatmeal in pjs. It’s a 2ply sport weight, and the wool is Cheviot. This would be great for mittens, socks or an outerwear cardigan (use it in colour work).
Botanical Dyed Handspun Yarn
So that’s it for today’s blog post. My plants are calling me to start creating some dye baths; I will wait. I think today is a good day to bake up some muffins. I can’t resist a good wholesome baked good with a cup of coffee around 10:30 in the morning.
