A Good Day to Dye

Two glorious days of sunshine in a row.  A thing rarely encountered.

I took advantage of the sunshine (still quite cool, however) to test some new dyes.  I first saw Greener Shades, an organic acid dye that uses no heavy metals, at Rhinebeck.  All the people, sheep, fleece and yarn were so overwhelming in that fantastic, Rhinebeck-y way that I could hardly even begin to think about dyeing so I just made note and walked past their booth.  

Later I did think about it.  Plant dyes are still my favourites (is anything more witchy than boiling up a cauldron of twigs and leaves?  I think not.).  But there are some colours that are very difficult to achieve and plus, I like to experiment.  

I purchased the starter kit, which has 1/2 oz. of each colour they sell.  It arrived and that 1/2 oz looked so miniscule that I wondered about their claim that I could dye 13 lbs of wool with this kit.

Oh ye of little faith!

This stuff is powerful.

I dyed much more than the 3/4 lb that I imagined I would get - some fleece took up the dye more intensely than others.  I over-dyed some of my vast stock of yellow fleece to get some really nice greens.  I still have a pot of fleece sitting out to see how it does over time in the sun.

Definitely a different experience from the plant dyes, but I am impressed.