Natural Dye - Marigolds

I absolutely adore Marigolds!  Lovely flowers that bloom all Summer long + they are excellent at natural dye.

I'm a knitter but not really a sock knitter - preferring other wearable accessories and sweater knitting over socks, but I've always wanted a pair.  I purchased this sock yarn way back in 2008 when I was pregnant with my first child with the hopes of it becoming socks, but never got around to it.  The poor skein has been shoved around in my yarn stash box for years now, since I'm not that impressed with the color it lay neglected.  It is way to blue and I've often wondered why I even bought it in the first place.  It is Lana Grossa Meilenweit - colorway 8007 (blue, tan with a bit of yellow - maybe some grey)

Before!!

I found a bag of Marigolds taking up freezer space and decided to finally use them.  

Frozen since 2013! 

 over 12 oz of flowers for my 4 oz skein is a bit much 

so I raided my closet for something to add to the dye pot.  

I found a 100% cotton summer tank 

that is just a boring white.  

Tossed both in for an alum mordant

Here is the after yarn dyed with Marigolds and a quick half skein dunk in an Iron post mordant

I divided the skein into two equal mini skeins for easy sock knitting.  

Love the green, yellow earthy tones! 

 I cannot wait to cast on

I plan on knitting the Smooth Operator Socks by Susan B. Anderson 

since the pattern is full of tips and tricks for the not so

sock knitter - kind of knitter, like myself!

FINISHED that WIP....

Did you look at my last post and wonder what those bundles were around a stick?  

Here's what I made from it..............

I Eco-dyed fabric to make some drawstring bags.  

Just an idea I had to package something new that Dusty Tree Soap will be featuring this Season at our local farmer's market.  

Watch this space......

So how in the world did I do that?

I purchased a yard of plain muslin...washed/dried it and cut 5 stripes using my elaborate template of an old piece of paper.  My template is 7"wide x 291/2" long.

I gathered my supplies.....

some dried herbs/flowers from my garden, steel wool, vinegar & tea 

I enlisted the help of my 3 year old son to help work the magic....he really did all the work, I just directed him.  We make pizzas together so I told him to sprinkle it on like you do the cheese on pizza.  I put the steel wool in a container with some vinegar to soak to start it rusting. 

 (I put this on the fabric...my son did everything else)

After you cover it as much (or as little) as you prefer, top it with another piece of fabric and roll it around a stick.  I secured it with some wire I had on hand.

then steam them for a bit..........

and voila....eco dyed fabric. The fabric panels actually turned out better than I expected.  I thought they would be somewhat pale so I was pleasantly surprised with them.

  I used this tutorial to make my bags.

If you like DTS already on Facebook, 

then you've seen these, but some of my newest soaps for Market.  

The classics........

Thanks for stopping by!

SoAp...YES soap!

With Market (quickly) approaching, I set out to make some soap. 

 During the Winter I cleaned and organized my work-space and I must admit I'm a bit more efficient when things are scattered everywhere in a big mess....almost like it is a bit of an inspiration to be 'IN THE MESS'.  With everything put away all proper, I wasn't sure what 'type' or design I wanted to make.  I knew I wanted to use: Cinnamon, Mint and Moroccan Red Clay, but I wasn't sure what I wanted my design to be so I turned to the internet.  

I did a quick Google search and found this inspiring.......

To me I see colorful stripes with green and orange accented with some brown.  I have to admit it is a bit hard to get a true orange in naturally dyed cold processed soap but I knew my Moroccan Red Clay would give me somewhat similar results.

so I made this.......

Moroccan Spring

A quick run-down of my process......

divided my batch into thirds and added my natural colorants

and started layering.....

 and layering.....

and layering until all the soap was gone!

It is nice to be back in the soaping seat again...look out for more bubbly goodness in the weeks ahead.  Thanks for stopping by!

Mint into the Dye Pot

I harvested a bunch ( I mean a bunch!) of spearmint, peppermint and chocolate mint from my garden this past summer and dried it.  I put all of the dried bunches together in a large box.  I didn't keep the varieties separate.  I got tired of moving the box around so I decided to squeeze the dried bunches with my hands to remove the dried leaves.  I filled a large freezer bag with dried mint leaves and still had some left so I pulled out my spice grinder and whizzed a bit to a fine powder to use in my soaps.

I got out my garden shearers and cut the dried stems up a bit and tossed whatever remained in the box + a few handfuls of some dried leaves into my dye pot added some water and let it simmer.


While the mint was simmering, I scoured a skein of Skacel Merino Lace - a discontinued yarn that I found at my LYS.  It was a bare skein of superwash wool.  After scouring it smelled kind of like bleach.

 Not sure if they actually bleached the fibers to get it white or if that stench is from the superwashing process.  From what I understand they coat the wool fibers with plastic so the barbs on each strand will not felt when agitated.....nasty!  I'm not a fan of superwash, but it was at my LYS, bare, within my price range and I had a gift certificate.  

This skein is 100g so that means I needed about 2tsp of Alum and the same of CoT for mordant.

Once the skein was cooled in the mordant bath I added my liquid mint dye.

This simmered for about an hour.  I pulled it out and it was somewhat of a tan bland color so I added 2 tsp of baking soda to the dye bath and mixed it around to dissolve.  This immediately changed the color of the dye to a darker color.  I made sure everything was dissolved and I put the skein back in.  The baking soda changes the ph of the dye - hence changes the color.  I let it simmer for a bit longer, turned off the heat and let it sit overnight.  The result is very pleasing.  

Reading online and in books, I see most people mention that mint dyes a green color so I'm happy with my result.  I'm planning to knit a cropped 3/4 length sleeve cardi with the mint dyed yarn and add a lace button band in grey....should be perfect for Spring.  Love the Grellow color combo.

Natural Dye Series, Part 4 -- Black-eyed Susans and Coreopsis Verticillata

No particular reason I grouped Blacked-eyed Susans and Coroepsis together other than I harvested and dyed them on the same day, since they were in full bloom and raging with flowers in Late August.

Black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia)

I plucked many blooms straight off of the plant and placed them in a jar with some rubbing alcohol to soak.  I placed this in the sun to warm for a few hours.  It really didn't take that long to extract the color.  I also placed two large handfuls into a pot with water and simmered for about an hour.  I added the extracted color from the alcohol to the simmering water mix and cooked a bit longer. 

Freshly plucked pretty little flowers

Into the alcohol

and into the sun

flowers simmering away on the stove

and both solutions...alcohol added to the mix on the stove

and the two strained...look at that dark color!  What color do you think the yarn will be?

Did you guess green?  Here is the pre-modant (alum + CoT) in the pot on a light simmer

Here is the skein after a full soak on the stove and  a rinse

and after a post iron mordant...a wee bit darker

Coreopsis Verticillata

Most people dye with Coreopsis Tinctoria, but that isn't the variety I have in my garden.  I have verticillata which has a pale solid yellow flower with very wispy delicate greeny.  I absolutely love this plant.  Super easy to grow + I've divided my one plant into a few that I've scattered around my perennial beds.  

So I really didn't know what to expect when I harvested this plant in the fall.  So I dyed some yarn on a whim.  My thought was 'well it is still in the Coreopsis family so maybe I'll get some sort of color.'  The Tinctoria variety has a dark orange center to the flower while verticillata is solid yellow so I was thinking I'd get a green or maybe a yellow.

I placed my cut foliage into the pot and simmered for a few hours.   

I got a murky orange!

In went the pre-mordant yarn (alum + CoT).  Soaked and simmered for about an hour.

The skeins out after a rinse

and the before and after on doing a iron post mordant ... everything is a bit darker and more intesne

Here is the before and after on all the skeins

I didn't dye the skein on the far right and I added one at the last minute that didn't make the before shot.  The unknown stash skein on the far left really didn't produce any type of promising results. 

a Quickie

My Table at Ligonier Country Market

Can't wait to get these into the dye pot with some wool

Dried Mint harvested from the garden earlier this year

some herbs just hanging out to dry

the makings of some 'Winter Salve'

I've been making salve for personal use for a while now.  I don't ever plan to sell it...I adore it to much to ever give up an ounce.  I'm planning a new batch and thought I'd share.  This will be perfect in the Winter for dry, stressed and irritated skin.

Here is what I put in....the dried 'stuff' is from my garden (except for the Eucalyptus, which comes from my parent's)  + Comfrey Root and Slippery Elm from Mountain Rose herbs.

I don't usually measure anything...I can't really be that scientific with my salve, but I simply added (eyeballed) equal amounts of Lemon Balm, Eucalyptus, Chamomile, Calendula, Comfrey Root and Slippery Elm (both from Mountain Rose herbs) + previously infused Rosemary infused Olive oil.

Here it is before adding the oil

and with the Olive Oil

I'll let it sit on the counter for weeks, strain and add some melted beeswax  + some ground Nettle Powder and some Essential Oils (probably Lavender & Tea Tree) to finish off the salve.  Put into sterile jars and enjoy all winter long!  I can't wait....

New SoApS and some yarny goodness fun!

Here are the latest soaps from my previous post.  I always get such a different look on my Chocolate Mint even though I always make it the same.  Each one is different and unique...I guess that is what I like about making soap.  The thrill, the excitement when you cut into a batch.

AND now for the yarny goodness........

I've been experimenting with natural dyeing even after my last posting where I messed up and heated the black bean juice.  I still have to repeat that one and try for a blue!  But this time I used some dried herbs from my garden.  I had Lady's Mantle and Chamomile.  Here are the pics from my adventure.....

I got these huge cones from my local thrift store for $1.00 (not each, but total!)  I have no idea what type of wool it is or where it came from or even how old it is, but I thought it was perfect to use for learning how to natural dye.  I've been measuring off about 1.5oz of wool for each batch.

I wash it with my lanolin soap

Let the wool soak by itself, resist the urge to push it into the water.  Let it soak for at least 30 minutes (I soak much longer)

I used alum to mordant.  I found this in my grocery store.  Add fresh water and your mordant (this case alum) to a pot you no longer care to use for cooking and add your wet freshly washed wool.  I read somewhere online that for 4oz of wool use 1 tbls of alum...so figure out your amount.  Bring gently to a simmer..never boil...you will felt your wool.  Some people use a thermometer, I just simply place my hand on the side of the pot to feel if it is too hot (please don't burn yourself...my hands are my best thermometer...that is how I tell if my lye is too hot too when soaping..the feel test isn't accurate by any means, but do whatever works for you).  This picture shows my mordant wool that has the excess water squeezed from it.

Here are my dried herbs (I never did weigh them or the water so I'm not sure of my ratio)  Dried Chamomile and Lady's Mantle that I chopped roughly with a pair of scissors.  I placed the herbs into the pot and then filled with fresh water until they were covered and simmer like you would tea...the house smelled so good!  This would have probably been a delicious tea to drink.  I simmered for about 40 minutes, turned the heat off and allowed to cool.  

Once cool, I squeezed all of the water out of the herbs and added them to my compost bin.

Here is the tea.

and the yarn in it...again return to a simmer and let it go for about 30-40 minutes, turn off heat and allow to cool.  Rinse until your water runs clear....this took me awhile and I was nervous that I was rinsing all my color out of the yarn.

Here are my latest small skeins...only 1.5 oz each

Up next MARIGOLDS!  I plucked every flower off of my remaining plants and placed in the freezer for a later use.  I put them on cookie sheets until they were frozen and then put them into freezer bags.  I got two bags around 12 oz each.