dying wool

Yesterday, I decided to try to dye some of my hand spun yarn. I went out and gathered all the cosmos flowers I had, plus some marigolds. Simmered them for a little while.

While the flowers were simmering, I got the yarn ready in the mordant bath. It had to simmer an hour.

Strained the flowers and got a beautiful orange color. Added the yarn and simmered another hour.

                                                            And this is what I got. I just love it!

Then today, I put 2 more skeins in that same dye pot. They are so much lighter, but still really pretty. I think I might really like doing this. I can see how it can be quite addictive.

I found some gentian violet the other day at Walmart. I saw someone's post on FB where they dyed some wool using this stuff. It's what people use for thrush. It is a beautiful purple-violet color. I want to dye some alpaca next. I'm washing more white alpaca so should have enough to dye soon.