Another Avocado in My Salad

The solar-dyed, avocado pit- and skin-dyed gift basket I recently completed sold within minutes of me posting it on social media. It wasn't even in my Etsy shop yet. I wasn't done with the similarly dyed treats I planned to include in the basket.

My social media erupted with inquiries. Everyone wanted me to make another one. Immediately. No one seems to understand how long solar- and avocado-dying takes!

I began natural dyeing in 2013. I added avocado skins and pits to the dye menu that December. Although I gave up on most natural dyeing after a couple of years (because the colors fade too fast), I've never stopped avocado pit- and skin-dyeing.

When I first began dyeing (with professional commercial dyes, and possibly as far back as 2009), I used a skein of cheap black acrylic yarn to tie my hanks of thread and yarn. Within a couple of years, I realized I could use the prepared-for-dyeing (PFD) cotton yarn as ties, then after a couple of years, make something creative with all the dyed ties.

It took a couple of years of dyeing to have enough ties to create my first "leftovers" scarf. It's going to take longer to make another ball of avocado-dyed hank ties big enough to make a basket.

For the last few years as a full-time caregiver, including four pandemic years of full-time working at home as well as full-time caregiving, there wasn't a whole lot of time for dyeing. I kept an avocado dye jar going most of the time because it can sit in the living room window to absorb sunlight all year long. It takes six to nine months to extract the pigment, and it can take another six months for fabric, thread or yarn to absorb the dye.

Avocados have off and on been a regular part of my family's diet. But with only two people in my household for the last seven years, it takes a while to build up enough skins and pits to dye one hank of thread or yarn. I sometimes will use a second or third dip in a dye pot to obtain lighter shades, and some of the second and third dips have required second and third dips to soak up enough pigment to even be noticeable. I've heard some dyers estimate it takes them a year to save up enough skins and/or pits to dye one hank of yarn.

I've considered a couple of times asking one of my favorite restaurants if I can pick up their discarded skins and pits at the end of the day once in a while. You can freeze the (cleaned) pits as long as needed until you are ready to grind them up for dye, but you need to get them in the freezer same day. Skins, however, need to be processed a little more quickly. So, you can't ask a restaurant to save up a week's worth of discards. The skins and pits in a bucket for a day is pushing the limits of viability.

Now that I'm on my own, I could ask if I could pick up pits and skins each night... But that would entail the commitment of at least the next couple of hours each time I obtain dye material cleaning and processing said dye material.

All avocado meat (the tasty green inside) must be removed. If you miss even a tiny bit, that can cause the dye jar to mold. It also causes the dye to turn brown instead of that lovely shade of brownish pink everyone craves.

I have a kitchen scrub brush I use to clean my pits and skins. I have to be very gentle with the skins. Too good a scrubbing can shred them before all the green yummy has been removed, and the small pieces are even more difficult to clean. Ask me how I know that...

I bought a cheap blender years and years ago to grind up my avocado pits. I grind on the porch, and the blender gets stored in the garagge, so no chance it will ever be accidentally used in food prep. One of the standard, all encompassing dye rules is never reuse any of your tools for food preparation once you've used them for dyeing. None of my dye tools ever get stored in the kitchen.

To grind pits, it takes about four to five hours total because the frozen pits I have saved (usually for about a year) to thaw. The extraction process is messy, and clean-up takes a bit. Once the dye jar has enough ground pits in it for a single hank of yarn or thread, the dye jar sits in sunlight from six to nine months, sometimes longer. The longer you wait, the deeper and richer the hue will be.

Skins take about 30 minutes to clean and tear into small pieces (usually one or two avocados at a time), and this cleaning needs to be done fairly quickly after the avocado has been cut open. In solar dyeing, pigment begins appearing in the fluid within a few hours, but you don't use the dye fluid until it has soaked in the sun for months.

Now that I'm cooking for just one, it takes me longer to use up enough avocados to dye one 100-yard hank of crochet thread. I have asked two friends to save their pits and skins for me (and I've explained I need them same day and can come get them if they let me know), and I might ask a restaurant about the possibility of getting their discards one time, just to see if and how that would work. But, for now, to make another ball of scrappy avocado yarn is going to take a long time.

Several of the inquiries I've received after trying to explain what I've just written in two short sentences (i.e,. it's going to take a very, very long time), they always respond, "Can you have it done by next week?"

So, if you've made it this far in my ramblings, first of all, THANK YOU!!! Second, that's why I've written it. Next time someone asks if I can have another scrappy basket done in a few days, I can send them a link to this blog post.

People have asked how I get so many shades. Avocado dyeing differs in final results due to avocado variety, what time of year the avocados were harvested, what kind of soil they are grown in, the weather in the region of growth, the ripeness of the avocado when cut, the temperature at which the dye is processed, and how long the dye jar sits. There likely are hundreds of other factors that determine what the final color will be.

Avocado pit- and skin-dyeing is such a cool process, but it can't be rushed. And, no, I cannot finish another basket by next week. I'm not sure I could have another one done by next year. But, I do WANT to keep dyeing, and I do WANT to make another scrappy basket. I'm not sure it would be as rewarding a pastime if it was faster. I think the years it takes to create a project like my avocado basket are what make the final product so desirable.

Linking up with Alycia Quilts.

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