shades of summer

Here are my final dye experiments for this summer
I've cheated a bit, because I placed the dye vats next to the wood burner this last couple of weeks
to keep them fermenting.
Which works fine :)

The yarn is Poll Dorset from Renaissance Dyeing

Here's another photo. The exact colours are difficult to capture, they look more like this.

from left to right - dyed with:

 Brambles (Rubus fructicosus) - Yellow Iris (Iris pseudacorus) - St Johns wort (Hypericum perforatum)

Madder (Rubia tinctorum) - Elderberries (Sambucus nigra) :basic vat  - Elderberries :acidic vat 

...

the yellow Irisses were harvested in my own garden. They grow in abundance close to the river

I would never take the wild ones as they are quite rare

and they were replanted after taking away only a part of the root

sliced roots Iris pseudacorus

The roots hold a reddish colour which apparently gives a bluish grey dye 

with promises of more blues or maybe even some purples, if I had used more roots

I'm definitely going to try it again next year !

My conclusion is that the colours you get with the fermentation method are quite different from the bright colours of the synthetic dyes, much softer, but they are what I would like to call "vibrantly alive" and frankly I prefer these soft tones to the ones we are so used to see on clothing and yarn these days.

And, once you get used to work with these natural colours, it's not easy to return to the synthetic colours again. 

Well, I won't, anyway !

I think I will make a crochet wrap or maybe a cardigan, with these six colours

:)

as Fall is approaching fast...

it's time to work on warm and cozy knit and crochet designs.

As always, I prefer to work with 100 procent wool and hand dyed yarns. The Poll Dorset yarn of Renaissance Dyeing is a wonderful yarn to knit or crochet with. And the colours are amazingly bright and alive. Thanks to the skills of the very talented Andie Luijk
Here, I've choose five new colours to design a warm crochet cowl. The garment and the pattern will be finished by the end of next week. There will also be a kit available with yarn and pattern at the Renaissance Dyeing website.

LOVE these colours

In the meantime, I'm still dyeing some yarn, but I should now bring the fermenting dye-vats inside the house as the nights are getting really cold.

I found this interesting pdf on the Net about fermentend dyes, it's written in German and English:

Fermenting the Ancient Finnish Dyes

After rinsing the dyed skeins in the river next to the house, they are now drying for the last time.

left - Poll Dorset dyed with St John's Wort = salmon pink

right - Some stash yarn dyed with Alder = dark honey

...

shades of St John's Wort

St John's Wort (Hypericum perforatum) is a yellow-flowering perennial herb indigenous to Europe, it's a well known herbal medicine used to treat depression and anxiety. Many people prefer this natural remedy instead of antidepressants. It is also known to relieve muscle problems and sunburn.

It is called St. John's wort because it blooms approximately on St. John's Day (June 24). But of course it was well known before the "saints" appeared in our regions. Other names are: Tipton's weed, chase-devil or Klamath weed.

The name Hypericum is from the Latin word hyper meaning "above" and icon meaning "image or symbol", perforatum refers to the black punctured little holes on the underside of the leaves.

When you crush a flower bud between your fingers, you will release a burgundy red juice, the evidence of the presence of the hypericin flavonoid.

Thus St John's Wort is a symbol from above and it has potent "blood" in his veins which can chase away bad vibes  :)

Did you know that you can also make a wonderful herbal dye out of it?

Perfect for dyeing wool and silk !

According to natural dyes experts you can obtain different shades with it (mostly yellow) but I did get a wonderful pink "old rose" as you can see here.

lace merino, kidsilk mohair, cobweb silk

The method I'm using here, to obtain the dyes I like for some of my yarns, is somewhat different than what people are used to. It's based on the fermentation of the plant materials and on the adding of some agent, like for example lemon juice or lime.

It's a very, very old technique, you don't need to work with any alum or metals, you don't boil anything and yes, the colours on the dyed textiles are permanent, they will not fade or wash out. Basically it is more or less the same technique as when working with woad or indigo to obtain blues, which also need a fermentation vat ! It is a wonderful way to dye your own yarn because it's not suited for large quantities of yarn and you don't need big amounts of plant material. Because the colours you get are always somewhat different, depending on the quality of your "harvest", the time of the year, the amount of sunrays and last but not least, the wonderful work of the little fermenting creatures who will turn your dye in something bright or dull, depending on their changing moods :)

It is magic and alchemistic and I love it because the colours are strangely "alive"  :)

You can use a lot of the wild and cultivated herbs and plants in whatever region you live in. It's really fun to do and in the process you can learn about plants and their little secrets.

one acidic and one basic mixture in glass containers

with the same fermented plant: St John's Wort

The pictures I posted here are from an experiment I did two summers ago, but at this moment I've started one new fermenting vat with St Johns wort as I did found a lot of them in my neighbourhood.

With the strange weather we have here lately, they are still blooming...