The Art of Veggie Dye
Using ingredients only from your kitchen and garden, you can change the colors of the world.
Lately I’ve been enjoying taking long walks on my farm and on the local trails. I started snapping photos and researching the various plants I stumbled across. While I thought I was doing this to keep my flock safe from dangerous weeds, I made some unexpected discoveries. I found many plants that I could use to transform the yarn I’d been spinning from my sheep’s fleeces into an array of beautiful colors.
I have dabbled in natural dyes for several years. It’s fun and only somewhat predictable, which is kind of nice since life holds so few true surprises. Also, the materials are relatively easy to obtain.
This fall I made a list of what I found on my property: goldenrod, pokeberry, lichen, mushrooms, black walnuts, marigolds and smartweed. Add that to what I already had in my kitchen: avocado, onions, purple cabbage and turmeric.
I am a big fan of pinks and cranberry tones. Looking at my list, I realized there were at least two natural sources to make these colors.
I came to love avocado toast this year and decided to start saving my avocado pits in a bag in the freezer. Now I have a gallon bag that’s about half full; these should provide a lovely soft pink. This dye will not require a mordant since the tannins in the pits provide the fixative.
As for the pokeberry? I was able to snatch some before the birds got to them this year. They give a deep-pink-to-cranberry tone and require only vinegar as a mordant for the yarn.
Doing the dyeing is a labor of love and an artistic process.
That’s it. Simple. Beautiful. And, best of all, natural.
I hope you find yourself looking around your kitchen and the world outside your door in a whole new colorful way. I can’t wait to sit at the spinning wheel by the fire with my new pink wool. I’ve dreamed of owning pink sheep—this is pretty close.