Brambleberries in the Rain » Acorns

Acorn Yarn, Revisited

Cynthia — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 00:46:20 +0000

The other day I finished knitting a pair of socks for my husband. I made them out of the yarn I dyed with acorns back in September. I think they turned out really nice. I love the little flecks of white. The acorns gave the yarn such a nice brown coffee with cream color which is perfect for my husband as he is a major coffee addict! I’m currently working on some more dyeing experiments that I will be sure to post about here in the near future.

It got cold this afternoon! We were out and about and the rain coming down started turning to snow. It didn’t stick but sure got my two boys excited! I can not believe we are already half way through November and Thanksgiving is just a few days away. I have got to get a lot busier here on making gifts! I keep making things for people (like the above mentioned socks for example) and then giving them to the person they were made for right away. Perhaps I should be saving them for gifts…..oh well, keeps me busy I suppose.

Dyeing with Acorns part 2

Cynthia — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 00:41:36 +0000

I wrote last week about dyeing some yarn with acorns. I was able to finish it this past Saturday. It ended up being a 6 day process. The results were worth it though.

To begin, I had to first crush the acorns and then soak them in water for several days. After that I simmered them for 2 hours. Once they were finished simmering I allowed them to cool completley before I strained them out of the liquid. I now had my dye bath. To the cooled dye bath I added my skein of yarn that I mordanted with alum. I brought this up to a very slow simmer and kept it there for one hour. The result? A very rich tan color that makes me think of cafe au lait.

The photo shows specs of yarn that were not dyed. I did this on purpose to add interest when I knit with it. I achieved the specs of no dye by tying off the yarn in several places before I dyed it. Just like tie-dyeing. This skein is now destined to be a pair of socks for my husband.

Dyeing with Acorns part 1

Cynthia — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 00:32:57 +0000

Yesterday my boys, the sweethearts that they can be, were at their friends’ house and they found a bunch of acorns for me. They had remembered that I was on the look out for some to possibly try dyeing yarn with. They had filled they pockets with them and now I have more than enough to try it out. I need 4 ounces of acorns to dye 4 ounces of yarn. I don’t think I ever thought about using acorns to dye yarn with so I am pretty curious to see how it turns out. The last three skeins I dyed using plant material turned out so nice. Unfortunately using the acorns as dye is a several day process so there will be no instant gratification. They need to be crushed first and then soaked for several days before you even make the dye bath! I plan on crushing them today and getting them soaking so I can get dyeing by the end of the week. It is defiantly a more drawn out process compared to other methods of dyeing but I am really enjoying it.

On another note, I have finished all the knitting on the spider monkey for my daughter’s birthday. Now I just have to sew it all together…..NOT my favorite part I must say. I’m not really looking forward to the paws as there are 20(!) fingers to sew on one by one. The final product will be worth it though.