Solar Dyeing

Today I taught a solar dye workshop at Baaad Anna's, and it was seriously awesome. I got to bring six rad people into the natural dye world!

I told them I would blog about me rinsing out a skein of solar dyed yarn from my last class. (Hi guys!! Thanks for being so awesome in class today!)

So here it is:
The yarn is dk weight 100% merino yarn from Pollika. Seriously fantastic yarn.

The mordant things were alum and cream of tartar.

The dyes were henna, onion skins, and logwood extract.

They had been sitting in the sun on my porch for a few months.

When I opened the yarn it smelled gross... but not that bad.

I rinsed it outside with the hose, and mint Dr.bronners soap.

Here it is!

Impossible

The most impossible colour.

Blue.

No vat dyes ( indigo or woad ).

This yarn has been through a lot.

This blue is achieved with a strange orange mushroom, an logwood.

A contrario

Silk dyed with cochineal and logwood.
This is the best thing to have happened in a long time.

Ut ameris, ama!

Is it wrong that I want everything in the world to be dyed with logwood? I think violet my be the best colour around these days....
That will probably change in my mind soon.. but today is a purple kind of feeling.
(Mostly because I want to dye my hair purple... but that can't happen with logwood, so I will have to wait until I can get to the dye store.... hair dye store. So my hair is staying pink)


Much inspiration tonight from looking at the things that I love... This is one of them....
http://www.dudecraft.com/

Pretty much the bestest funny web site.

But in the news of the yarn for this weekend... The tags are almost done... Wood and books and copper and embroidery... these things that I love!
 ps. This is the thing that I love best....

Oh god. I just blogged about my cat. 

I think i've just become one of "those cat people...

Or maybe I was already one of those cat people.... ugh.