When You Don't Have Time to Quilt

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Spicy Avocado

My most recent jar of avocado skin/pit dye didn't produce as vivid tones as I'd hoped. I think most of the avocado dyes I've been using through the winter are third and fourth dip. I did the freeze/thaw cycle on this dip because I've found the dyes seem to adhere better if I let them dry before I attempt to wash. Freezing overnight and then thawing also seems to richen the colors. We had two snow accumulations while I let the yarn dry.

I did get some lovely tone variation, but I'd like a little more depth. So, back in the dye jar this hank went, and I consolidated all of my brewing dye jars into that one jar. Some of those jars have been going since August. They may not have much pigment left, so I may have to give this hank a third soak, but for now, it looks pretty in the jar. It's on the porch now with two more hanks I started two and three weeks ago.

I started three new jars of avocado pit dye and one new jar of avocado skin dye. It's warm enough they can sit on the porch now, but I kept the fluid levels down just in case it does freeze overnight. I don't need any more broken Mason jars!

We had a record low of 13 degrees Monday night! Good thing it came with enough snow to blanket the flowers that have been fooled into spring! 13 degrees would have wiped them all out!

The jars survived. Thank heavens!

Lizard loves to watch when I start new avocado dye jars. The color deepens pretty quickly the first day, and he's amazed every time. He couldn't believe the starting hue while I was grinding up the pits in my thrift store blender. (Kitchenware should never be used for cooking once it's been used for dyeing, so I opt for super cheap dyeing tools by buying them used.) Lizard said the crushed avocado pits remind him of a good bowl of chili with cheese. The color is rather similar!

Linking up with Alycia Quilts and Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

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Friday Fun

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15 Inches of Dye

When you're trying to train for a 450-mile cross-state bicycle ride and the weather does nothing but pound you with snow, might as well get some color going!

22 inches were forecast; we had 15 after the first 36 hours. Not quite the Storm of the Century predicted, but still enough for another round of snow-dyeing!

Five hanks of cotton yarn were prepared for dyeing (hanked and then mordanted), then a hank of cotton thread, two yards of cotton fabric, and finally, one hank of wool yarn. This would be my first time using snow to dye wool, as well as my first time ever trying fiber-reactive dyes on wool. The dye process for wool is completely different than for cotton, so my efforts with the wool were experimental. Didn't know what to expect, and didn't really care how it turned out, as long as the wool didn't felt (shrink and coagulate). (The wool turned out just fine!)






I was hoping for lavender and violet this time around; the color broke once again, which is one of the magic aspects of snow-dyeing, so initially not the color I envisioned after the snow melted, but still not bad. Four of the cotton yarn hanks are to return kindness to friends who helped me through various difficulties, and I thought they'd each be happy with the results.










This time, I did an entire 415-yard skein of size 10 Baroque crochet thread instead of winding it into individual 100- or 150-yard hanks. I decided I want enough of one colorway to make something besides snowflakes. Especially if I like the finished color.


The wool is totally different in color from the cotton, but I think it turned out great. I think this will knit up beautifully!




Then came the washing stage. Eek. Sometimes washing is the make or break in dyeing. I'd been doing only natural dyeing for most of the last 18 months. You don't use hot heat in natural dyeing; it messes up the colors, typically resulting in standard grays and browns. Not fun after experiencing color heaven.

This was my first time using professional dyes in quite a while, and I mistakenly applied the natural dye washing rules to the cotton instead of the professional dye washing rules. Professional dyes need heat to set.

My cold cotton color did not set.

Darn it.




Fortunately, I still like the faded pastel pink, and I can always overdye if necessary. I also learned a much-needed lesson and hopefully will not need to relearn it. With 16 more inches on the way and yet another winter storm in the extended forecast, I want to take another stab at lavender and violet, without so much color break this time, if possible. Reducing color break in snow- or shaving cream-dyeing is a challenge, and challenge is one of the dyeing aspects I apparently enjoy. I keep trying again and again and again...

Meanwhile, this pastel pink might work very nicely for me and my friends, each who've had personal close calls with breast cancer, actual breast cancer, or loved ones facing close calls or the real thing. Pink is always sentimental in my neck of the high plains meets foothills.






Linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

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Be Still My Heart!

Over-dyeing can fix some of the biggest oops!


worsted weight failed wool rose yarn after a day in alkanet juice

failed cotton beet yarn after a quick dip in alkanet juice

failed cotton rose thread after a day in alkanet juice

bachelor buttons after a week of soaking in water and vinegar

failed rose wool sock yarn in bachelor button juice
(It still didn't help much.)

failed rose bachelor button wool sock yarn after a quick dip in alkanet

Ready to Crochet!

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Weeds of Gold

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???

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