Project Updates And More ....

I have been really busy lately with my new found love...natural dyeing. Before I go further, these are my recent completed projects that I just can't find time to post. Since a picture paints a thousand words, I will let the photos do the talking :)

The first photo is a top that I called Tulip Garden, knitted with one solid and one variegated colour crochet yarn :





My sister called me up one day and asked if I would like to join her for a trip to Shanghai, China in November. Since it is autumn in China, I have knitted her a pair of fingerless mittens and a hat.



This Noro spiral one-skein hat pattern is knitted with one skein of Mission Falls 1824 Cotton Whirl in Dusk. The fingerless mittens knitted with Elann Peruvian Highland Sport yarn is Fetching by Cheryl Niamath. I have modified both of the edgings to seed stitch. I love the vibrant and variegated colour of the hat. Incidentally, she is flying to China today but I didn't make it. I hope it will keep her warm and cozy.

And now, let the fun begin :)


This BFL sock yarn was dyed with 193 gm of Clitoria Ternatea and 428 gm of Dragon Fruit skins plus one whole fruit weighing 500 gm. The flowers and fruit were simmered separately for an hour and left to cool. Alum and cream of tartar was used as mordant for the sock yarn. The yarn was also simmered for an hour in the mordants, left to cool and then dyed in three parts. One in Clitoria Ternatea dye bath, second in Dragon Fruit dye bath and the last in a mixture of both dye baths. The whole procedure took me 3 hours to complete.

I was amazed and surprised that the heated dye bath of Dragon Fruits yield a soft orange colour and a mixture of both dye baths produce a grey colour. Next time, I will experiment with the cold dyeing method using Dragon Fruit again. I hope this time it will yield the fruit's magenta colour that I am looking for.

I have always wanted to hand dye some yarns for my friend Denise. So when she told me that she love the colour, I couldn't be more pleased to give to her.



Can you guess the plant dye that I use for this BFL fiber? It is red onion skins and tumeric! I used 440 gm of onion skins and 2 tablespoon of tumeric powder. That is a lot of onion skins right? It was given to me by the grocery shop owner at the market. In fact, I have 2 more big bags of onion skins!.

The fiber was simmered for an hour and left to soak for 4 hours before rinsing. I have spun it to this 2 ply yarn that I have named as Gingerie:






These beautiful 255 gm of red balsams were picked from my little garden for a period of two to three weeks. The flowers were kept in a zip lock bag and stored in the refrigerator until I have enough flowers to dye. I used 138 gm of Merino wool and simmered for 1 hour 45 minutes. Half of the fiber was simmered in the pot for 10 minutes and part of the dyed wool was pulled out every 10 to 15 minutes. I added vinegar to the dye bath and dyed the second batch in the same way. The second batch was left to cool in the bath for 2 hours before rinsing. This is how the dye bath of balsam flowers looks like:



Ta dah! I present you my Peach Punch!



I just love the soft peachy colour and it is my favourite. In fact, someone offered to buy the top but I just can't bear to part with it :)

Have you seen enough? No? You want more? Okay, there are more to come! I have dyed a second Peach Punch using 200 gm of balsam flowers on 92 gm of BFL :




This 136 gm Merino wool was dyed with 325 gm of red onion skins again. The colour is lighter because I used big onions instead of small onions. I called it Olive Garden :



That's not all! I have also dyed these two dk weight Merino yarn with food dyes for my two dear friends, May and Irene. They wanted something bright and colourful and I named them Summertime I and II:







Hope that you have enjoyed looking at these eye candies, if I may say so :)