Fiber Arts Friday-Dyeing Fiber with Horsetails, Avocados and Kool Aid

I have spent most of the week holding and bothering the goats, but yesterday and today I decided I must get some dyeing done. So I foraged horsetail (http://www.mellowmarshfarm.com/plant/Equisetum_hyemale.html) and gathered up the dried avocado skins I had saved. I spent yesterday mordanting with alum and tartar. I usually weigh the fiber and put 10% alum and 5% tartar in to the simmering water. I prefer to use this mixture for mordanting. It is safe for the environment and I don't have to worry about disposal. Alum provides a wide range of colors and so far I am pleased with the results.

I prepared the dye baths today. First I broke the horsetail into smaller pieces and put them into simmering water. The result was not as promised on the recipe I found. I was expecting green but got a pale yellow instead. Foraging for dye material is never accurate. It all depends upon the time of harvesting, the maturity of the material being picked and length of simmering, etc. I ended up dyeing a batt of hand carded alpaca/romney.
For the avocado skins I was hoping for a bit more beige vs. the pale almost off white color. The dye bath was dark brown and I threw a couple of iron tablets in for good measure. The skein of yarn was sheep and I ended with a slight pink tint.
Then I dyed the rest of the skeins in orange, cherry and pink Kool Aid. The results were great. I was pleased especially with the pink alpaca roving. The two skeins I dyed were hand spun from Bolivia on a hand spindle.



Overall it was productive. I keep detailed records and always clip off a piece of roving or yarn to paste into a scrap book with information regarding the process. It is my reference for future projects. I know in natural dyeing it is unlikely to reproduce the final results, but that is part of the adventure.