Goldenrod goodness

Over this weekend we went on a nature walk to collect goldenrod flowers for dying yarn. Originally the plan was to make flying stars for Michaelmas however that will not be happening so I may just use this fun yarn for another project.

 

I found this process to be fairly simple however I am unsure of how color fast it is. Only time will tell after the final projects are made.

We chopped off all of the flowers and threw them in a pot of water then let it heat for about an hour or so without boiling.

I then strained the flowers through some muslin fabric and a colander with a toddler underfoot and managed not to spill any of the hot liquid on his newly bald head. Score!

I threw about half of the tiny bottle of Alum powder in and it clouded within the dark brown and turned to a super bright gold. Chemistry is awesome. I threw in about half of a skein of the wool yarn. This dye will not work on acrylic yarn so if you try this at home please don't waste your time!  

Rinse and let dry in the ucky bathtub which is highly overdue for a cleaning but obviously I'm too busy crafting instead.

It is still drying currently from last night but I cant wait to make something from it!