The dye library
What the plants give.
Seventeen plants and one insect. For each: the colour it puts on wool, where we get it, and the story it carries — from the goldenrod in the meadow to cochineal from a Mexican cactus.
The dyes
Also in the pot
Other colours from the woodlot and the kitchen.
Walnut hulls, oak, dandelion, birch, rhubarb — dyes we use on skeins in the shop that haven't made it into the journal yet. Click one to see the yarn.
Why it's never the same twice
Water, weather and the week you picked it.
Goldenrod picked in August is brighter than goldenrod picked in October. Well water and rainwater give different yellows from the same marigolds. An indigo vat gets deeper with every dip. We work with that, not against it — which is why we suggest buying all the skeins for a project at once.