There is a dye for wool and yarn called pokeberry dye.

A program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites is what Timber Creek Farm is a participant in.

The berries of the pokeweed plant are used to make pokeberry dye.Pokeweed is a perennial plant.The stalks are thick and often droop under the weight of the berries.The pokeberries are similar to a bunch of grapes.Don't mistake them for grapes.The part of the pokeweed plant used has different levels of toxicity.People enjoy eating pokeweed salit, even though it is toxic to humans.The leaves of the plant are boiled multiple times to remove toxins before being eaten.

The pokeberries and leaves are a good source of food for many animals and birds.As fall turns to winter, rodents, birds, and deer all rely on this source of nutrition.Birds pass the seeds from the berries to their stomachs.

The rich, vibrant color of the berries makes a dye that can be used to permanently color fabric, wool, and yarns.I was looking forward to making the pokeberry dye and using it to color our yarn because we have a lot of pokeweed on our farm.Before dyeing our yarn, I read many different approaches to the idea.The berries have a rich color.Before making pokeberry dye, you should protect your clothes, hands and work surface.

Things may not go as planned when using natural substances.It took a long time for me to get a green color.A brown dye can be created by boiling the berry dye bath.Using a mordant to change the pH and the resulting color from the dye bath is just the beginning of what you can do with pokeberry dye.Later in this post, I will write about mordants.

I took some steps to make my version of Pokeberry Dye.I used information from other herbalists and fiber artists to come up with my own plan.CarolLeigh's recipe was most notable.It can be re-printed in many publications.CarolLeigh found the best way to get the purple and red color from the berries to stick to the yarn.You may need to leave some of the regular rules for using natural dyes behind if you want to achieve the purple, deep red, or fuchsia.

It is very easy to make pokeberry dye as the berries break and the rich color shows up immediately.When added to the water, the semi dried berries will re-hydrate easily.

Most recipes tell you to remove the berries from the stems.The stems were separated into individual stems and berry clusters after the leaves and debris were removed.I almost filled the two gallon bucket I used to gather the berries in with pokeberry stems and berries.I'm pretty sure that they're going to dye a lot of yarn, since many recipes call for a larger supply.

The stems and berries will not be used for food preparation.There are some dye stuffs that are toxic.It is a good idea to keep a separate set of tools for dyeing.The pan you use for mordant can usually be found in the kitchen.

Start by covering the plant material with tap water.Do not bring the mixture to a boil.Allow the stems and berries to release their color when the heat is turned down.The mashed potatoes can be used to further squash the berries.

You can reserve the dye in a pan or container while you toss the spent berries and stems in the garbage.pokeweed has a lot of seeds so don't add them to your compost.The compost bin can turn into a pokeweed garden.

If I am suggesting that you don't use your kitchen pots and pans, you might be wondering what to do.I don't think it's necessary to buy new pans for this.Flea markets and Goodwill type shops can be used for used cookware.Try to find pans that are coated in something.We used to have an old granite steel stock pot for dye.I have a wooden spoon that stays with my dye pot and a mesh strainer that I use to separate the plant material from the dye water.I use an old wash basin as an extra pan for anything I need while working with dyes.There are metal cooking tongs that can be used to retrieve the fiber or yarn from the hot dye bath.

The first thing to do when dyeing yarn or fabric is to get it ready to receive the dye.The process is called mordant.There are a few ways to mordant yarn.There are a number of easily obtained substances.When your fiber is added to the dye bath, each one will cause a different reaction.The tap water has metals in it.I used a small amount of alum to make the dye for this experiment.

The yarn should be put in a non- aluminum pot.Use care when working with wool and hot water.Don't cause too much contact with the fiber.Hot water and movement can cause felting.You gently push the fiber into the water to get it wet.

Transfer the yarn from the mordant water to the dye bath without squeezing the water out.

The yarn should be pushed into the dye bath.The yarn should sink into the dye bath since it is wet.

The dye bath should be heating up.Bring the heat to a boil.The dye bath and fiber should be boiled for two hours.Allow the yarn or fiber to sit in the dye bath overnight after the heat has been turned off.

It is important to note that boiling pokeberry dye can cause it to lose it's red color and become brown.

While wearing gloves, pull the dyed yarn from the dye and squeeze out as much dye water as possible.Place a screen on which to oxidize for at least two hours.Don't rinse the yarn yet!

Change the water until it runs clear after at least two hours.The color of Pokeberry may change if soap is used.Place the screens over again to complete the drying.If the yarn is laid out in the sun, it will cause the color to change or fade.pokeberry is not light fast, but it is color fast for gentle washing.Don't leave the yarns you dye with natural colors to sit out in the sun.

It is possible to attempt dye lots from the dye you used if you still see rich levels of color.I was curious, since my dye seemed to be very dark after dyeing the two skeins of yarn.I threw the sample of wool in the mordant bath.

I threw it into the dye bath after mordanting it.There was a lot of color in the roving.I grabbed two more skeins of yarn.I was on an adventure.They entered the dye bath after mordanting the skeins.

After the dye bath was done, I heated the fiber, yarn and dye for a while.It sat over night after the heat was turned off.I washed the fiber and yarn in the morning.I decided not to process any more of the dye bath because there was still a lot of color left.The exhaust bath yarn had some shading that made the dye weaken.

The bottom was made from the second dye.There are two skeins of yarn that are orange-red.

I didn't use a modifier to create the deep fuchsia color.Only the mordant phase was used.

It will help the color last if you use a natural plant based soap to clean yarn.When using CarolLeigh's recipe and instructions, most reports of color fading from exposure to light were not true.I would not leave the fiber or garment exposed to the sun.The effect on the color can be seen by using alkaline soaps.

It is a variable pursuit to use colors from nature to dye fibers.Try small skeins to make sure you get the color you are looking for.The color of a product can be changed.

Adding metallic substances, such as iron, copper, or washing soda, can affect the color.It is a lot of fun to experiment with nature's colors.

This past week, I spun fiber.I will hopefully find a vendor at the Mother Earth New Fair this weekend.Can't wait to try it!

Wow!That is beautiful!It was quite a process.We don't have pokeberries in Montana.I might have to try this someday.

Looking forward to trying this out next fall.Shouldn't the water to vinegar ratio be 8:1?It looked to me like it was 1 c water to 8 c vinegar.