The latest darling in my dye pot is acorn natural dye. The acorns produced the perfect pewter gray shade for dyeing wool yarn. Gray is the perfect neutral shade. It pairs with almost any color, and can be used for baby gifts, toy elephants and dolphins. Gray is perfect for both men's and women's clothing and outerwear. Needless to say, I am quite happy with my latest experiments and glad to share my method with you. Preparing the Acorn Natural Dye Acorn natural dye is a fall dye that does … [Read more...]
Harvesting Natural Dye Plants
Fall is the perfect time to harvest natural dye plants and store for later use. While not all dye plants store well after being cut or gathered, quite a few will yield color just as well later, as they will fresh. You may have grown some of the plants on this list in your natural dye flower garden. If the plant contains the dye in it's roots, fall is the time for harvesting. Each dye plant has it's own specific way to harvest natural dye. When the plant, flower or nut are also food for the … [Read more...]
Naturally Dyeing Homestead Wool from Your Flock
I recently gave a demonstration on naturally dyeing homestead wool, during a gathering of homesteaders. You can completely change the look of your yarn in an afternoon. Choose the fleece or yarn you wish to dye, gather your raw materials, a few tools of the trade and simple, safe ingredients. The conference attendees were very interested in all aspects of self sufficient living and I was happy to see so many people interested in making natural dyes from plant sources. During the course … [Read more...]
Needle Felt Easter Eggs – Simple and Quick
Needle felt Easter eggs are quick and easy additions to your spring decorations. The materials for needle felt Easter eggs are few and the results are quick! Soon you will have a full basket of colorful needle felt Easter eggs to bring out year after year. Here are the materials you will need Wool felting needle. These often look like the ones pictured below. A felting needle is very sharp so take care when handling it. Also, the shaft of a needle felt tool has barbs on the shaft to further … [Read more...]
Black Walnut Hulls For Dye and Natural Medicine
Black Walnut trees have stood next to our home for over 35 years. Other than dents in the roof, twisting my ankle on an unseen ball, and a source of enjoyment for my kids, I never saw much use for them. Now I am kicking myself for all the wasted black walnut harvests we could have been enjoying. I recently decided to collect some black walnuts in order to make a natural dye for our line of yarn. While researching how to make the dye, I came upon many other interesting articles and ideas. Did … [Read more...]
