It's been about a month now since I started my mason jar of madder, alum and a Hitch Hiker scarf knitted in bare yarn. This weekend, I decided that I could not wait any longer and liberated my scarf into the kitchen sink where I rinsed and rinsed until I could roll out the excess, clear running water and hang it up to dry.
Keeping an eye on the jar during this process is like watching gifts appear under the Christmas tree. Just about every day I would get home from work, lean in for a good look and then grab it and give it a good shake to mix up the undissolved dye sediment. The water wasn't quite clear when I made the decision that it was done, but I think I may have used too much dye to begin with and it was definitely soaking up into the outer layer of yarn.
As I mentioned in my original post when I started this project, the garment was a little large for the jar that it was in so I was expecting a somewhat splotchy outcome. The resulting pattern of color is quite beautiful, with a dark rusty hue in the most saturated parts and a light gold on the parts that were obviously in the center of the scarf when it was rolled up in the jar.
I must say, I am so addicted to this new hobby! New bare yarn is on the way, so I'm going to try this process with skeins and THEN knit with it! I would also like to try using materials that I foraged or at least something that I collected/bought and prepared myself.
Have you tried any solar dyeing or even natural dyeing? How did it turn out?
