Last Saturday I attended a wonderful workshop at Earthues, in Ballard. The workshop, organized by the gals at Hilltop Yarn, was called "Dyeing Yarn the Natural Way". For some time now, I have been interested in learning to do things "the old fashioned way". Certain that humanity had long enjoyed colorful fabric for generations before the industrial age, I wondered just how such wonderful colors were transferred from plant (or bug, or whatever) to fiber. I learned that, and more, at this fantabulous workshop.
Since the lovely S. from Hilltop Yarn coordinated this workshop with knitters in mind, we got loot at the end of the day. The idea was that we end up with enough hand-dyed yarn to actually knit something out of. We each took home half a hank of Cascade 220 in SEVEN different colors! Behold...
From left to right: green (made from wend, which was then dipped in indigo), gold (made from marigolds), orange madder (made from madder and something else I don't recall - iron, maybe?), red madder (made from madder), fuschia (made from cochineal bugs), purple (made from logwood) and blue (made from the magical indigo).
When we got there the yarn had already been pre-treated to take the dye, in a process called mordenting. We got to check out the dyes in their almost-original states (I mean, the bugs were already dried, not crawling around or anything). Then we gloved up, paired up, and chose our colors. I was on Team Logwood, which ended up being really nice, since it doesn't have to cook as long as some of the others. :-) That gave me plenty of time to work on a gauge swatch for an upcoming pair of socks. Four pairs of us worked outside, and thankfully had dry
weather. We used restaurant-strength bunsen burners, stainless steel
pots and big ol' wooden sticks to stir. 
It felt very Macbeth. I
really enjoyed spending the day with women, doing something that people
(probably women, no?) used to do together ages ago - and in some parts of the world probably still do. I felt the same connection to
an "ancient sisterhood" that I felt when learning to make jam, or bread, or
when I first started knitting or sewing. We all helped with the gathering, rinsing, draining and re-hanking (when needed), then bagged them up and took them home.
Ideally, the yarn would stay in the dye bath until it cools, or overnight. Since this was only a seven hour workshop, we didn't have that luxury. I hung mine to dry over a towel rack, and by the next day they were ready for photos. The madder needs to be shaken out some more - it still has bits of bark in it. I think that's part of the fun...sort of like finding a little piece of stick or hay or something in a "regular" ball of wool. To me, that little bit of nature makes it feel more "real".
Rob has already hinted which colors he likes, and what he'd like them to be when they grow up. I haven't decided yet what to do with them. I'm definitely knitting them into something, but as I've stated before: my knitterly imagination ain't all that [yet]. I'll have to ruminate a bit before I know what to make. Any suggestions?
that sounds like you had a ball, though i think it would be funnier if the seminar were called just "dyeing the natural way" hee hee...
a note about the post-industrial era colours : i learned recently that a mauve dye became very popular at that turn of the centuries, actually derived from some sort of industrial run off (coal processing??)... which sounds gross, but how i do love mauve. there was a veritable mauve mania.
as a painter, i get excited when paint makers, such as seattle's own daniel smith, make a point of using actual earth-found minerals instead of some inky chemical fabrication of pigment.
as for what to knit... i'm afraid i'm not much of a knitter, and my crocheting is miserable, but at least i sew---and by hand, as if it somehow makes up for my poor weaving skills. i do remember once seeing a knitting pattern for a knifty sweater, dubbed "somewhat cowl", that i think would suit your stature.
i don't know how much yarn you have or is needed, but i recommend making such a sweater. i'm a big fan of the versatile three-quarter length sleeve. or can you do socks ? those are amazing!
somewhat cowl pattern : http://knitandtonic.typepad.com/knitandtonic/2005/12/the_somewhat_co.html
KELLY REPLIES:
Hi Andrea! Thanks for the comment, and the tip on "somewhat cowl". I do like that pattern quite a bit. My only concern would be all those horizontal stripes (if I used all 7 of my colors). At 5'2", horizontal stripes are just mean. :-)
I would love to know more about natural-pigment paints and will look into our local Daniel Smith.
Happy reading! ~K
Posted by: andrea | April 06, 2007 at 11:36 AM