. brightmeadowknits: October 2016

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Pokeweed natural dye

We were at the farm over the weekend and, although it was raining, I delighted to discover that the pokeweed berries had not totally dried up and blown away.  I picked them from two plants and brought them home.  I wound off and mordanted one pound of DK weight with cider vinegar.  I heated the pokeberries up in several quarts of water until the berries burst when the water was almost boiling. Then I threw in most of the ice from the icemaker in my freezer to get the dyebath back to room temperature.  Added the wet, mordanted yarn to the dyebath and brought it back to simmer, then let it cool and finally hung outside to dry.  I am pleased with the color, but we will see how light-fast it turns out to be!