Red Cabbage Blues

I am starting to think about dyeing wool all the time.  I couldn't get to sleep last night thinking about all the possibilities! I had to drive about 35 miles this morning to take one of our dogs to the vet. All the way home I found myself  watching the ditches more than the road...  I spied all sorts of wildflowers/weeds blooming that I recognized from my dye books! I decided that I can't leave home any more without boxes, bags, gloves and a clipper.

Today I am dyeing with red cabbage. While I was in town I picked up a few groceries, and there, in the produce section, calling my name, was one lone head of red cabbage. I couldn't leave it there with all the green ones. So, into my cart it went.

This is really amazing. I put two gallons of water in my dye pot. I added 14 oz. (400 g.) of chopped red cabbage. I brought this to a boil and then simmered it for an hour. I let it cool on the pot and sit for another two hours.  The color I was hoping to get in the wool was a greenish blue. When I first boiled the cabbage the water turned a beautiful sapphire blue. Oh if my yarn turned that color! 

I put the mordant, 20g. of alum, into a quart of very hot tap water with 14g of cream of tartar. I stirred this until it was dissolved and added it to the dye bath.  When I added this mixture to the dye bath the whole thing turned a deep reddish purple. 

I soaked my clean wool (7 oz, 200g), in hot tap water and brought the dye bath temperature up. I added the wool to the pot and brought it to just under a boil for one hour. As I heated the wool, the dye bath turned more and more violet colored. So far, I would accept any of those colors, but I new it was going to change again.  I turned off the heat and let the wool sit in the dye bath over night. So far, I loved all the does I had seen, but I knew it was to turn more blue/green so I waited. The next morning the color had moved a bit more to the blue, sort of lavender, but not what I was expecting. Also, the yarn had not taken up much of the color and remained very pale. I reheated the dye bath and simmered it for another hour. Then I placed it outside to steep like sun tea. Several hours later the yarn still had little color so I added a cup of vinegar which brought back more red. I left the dye pot for another 24 hours.

This morning is enough. I took the wool out of the pot, a very pale lavender. It is drying outside. I put the day bath into a big jug for a friend of mine who will use it for making paper. I plan to use the other half head of cabbage to dye more wool. This time I will mordant the wool, not the bath and compare the results. I have read that you can do it either way, but, I want to try it myself.