Dyeing Alpaca Yarn

What a fun experience (and experiment) it was playing with some natural dyes! Taking some white alpaca yarn and seeing how it would take color sure sparked some excitement! We did three colors, one pot of turmeric, spinach, and red cabbage. The spinach did not produce nearly the shade I wanted but it was fun to see a pale green yarn produced. The turmeric was the most exciting and I had no idea how potent it was on yarn, my countertop, sink and clothes but it yielded the most brilliant golden hue. The red cabbage was a beautiful pot of purple but didn't have enough "umpf" to do any more than a light blue color. Perhaps if I would have left the color more than an hour it would have taken on more of the shade. The yarn looked a little boring, so I dropped in a couple drops of neon pink food coloring which made turned the yarn into an interesting varigated design in baby pink and blue colors.

I can't wait to play more with this! Even though I've always been a purest in the natural shades of alpaca, I'm hoping than I can produce some nice shades that will compliment and enhance my inventory.