Cabin Fever: Experiments with Natural Dyes

This has been one of the coldest, longest winters I have ever experienced down south here in Dacula, GA. Being from northeast Ohio, this kind of winter up there actually wouldn’t be so bad. However, being cooped up indoors makes me want to get back in touch with nature in ANY WAY possible. I found a huge ball of plain white cotton yarn I bought years ago in hopes of dyeing it “someday.”

I also had some RIT dyes. After boiling the RIT dyes and stinking up my kitchen (the teal smells the worst!), I decided I wanted a safer, more natural way to dye my yarns and fabrics.

After looking online to see how to go about this, I found some great articles (I will post links in a future blog). The vegetables/fruits I chose to start with are:

*Avocado skins (pink, oddly enough)

*Tumeric (bright yellow)

*Black beans (purple/blue)

*Blackberries (blue)

I have tried the avocado skins and tumeric. The process involves first boiling these ingredients.