I couldn’t bring myself to dump out my large pot of walnut-y goodness until I used it all up. On Friday I dyed:
3 skeins of E.Lavold Silky Wool
1 skein of Louet Gems
1 skein of Cascade
I simmered the Cascade for about an hour, and the rest for 90 minutes. I wanted the Cascade to be a medium shade so that I could knit something interesting with all of the worsted weight. I was also hoping to somewhat control my results on the Silky Wool because I have 6 other skeins that I want to work all together.
Except for the baby alpaca, which dried quickly and has already been put away, everything else is here:
and clicking the photo will take you over to my Flickr page, which has notes over the individual skeins.
In answer to a question, my dye recipe is more or less this:
Gather walnuts, hulls and all. The outer hull, which starts out green and eventually turns dark brown, is the important part. Soak these hulls in water at least overnight, but longer is better. The first dyebath that I did with this year’s nuts soaked for a few days. This second batch soaked for 4 weeks. Dump the walnuts and their soaking water into a big pot and boil for an hour. Wait for the pot to cool and strain out the giant mess. I put a large colander in my pot and the walnuts more or less stay put, which makes straining much easier.
Wet out the wool, stick it into the pot, and simmer. Move it about the pot gently from time to time. Because it takes some time for the pot to cool, I usually end up doing the actual dyeing the next day. I don’t want to shock my wool by putting it into a hot dyebath. Sometimes I remove wool from the pot, let it cool, and then rinse. Sometimes I let the entire pot cool off before removing the wool – this results in a deeper shade. Different types of wool and wool blends take the dye in a range of shades, and the amount of walnut material per weight of goods makes a difference too. No mordant is necessary with walnuts.
I have kept a dye notebook for two decades with fairly detailed notes and samples, but it’s okay to play and not be so obsessed. I have never seen a natural dye bath that was not lovely. My favorite reference book for natural dyes is A Dyer’s Garden by Rita Buchanan.
Yesterday I cast off on a Clapotis, knit from Silk Garden 252. It’s all soft and drapey and will go to work with me.
