I’ve done a good bit of natural dyeing over the past 5 years, but not quite as much with avocados. So, I decided to dye some merino/angora yarn I had on hand using the skins and pits from two avocados.
I let the avocados simmer for about 12 hours, turned the heat off overnight, and then simmered them for another hour or so the next day.
I put two 50 gram skeins of merino/angora fingering weight yarn (undyed) into the dye bath after letting them soak for an hour or more in tepid water. They remained in the dye pot all day on low heat. I turned the heat off overnight and took them out in the morning.
I placed the pits/skins into another pot to see if I could extract more color…and now I’m dyeing two more 50 gram skeins of the same yarn as I write this. It’s amazing how much color can be extracted from only two avocado pits and skins.
I’m not going for a heavy saturation of color–just a pretty pinkish hue, so that’s why I’m using so few avocados. If I decide to do a larger batch of yarn in the future, I’ll probably try for a darker pink.
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| Two avocado pits/skins: darkest color, 3 hours on low heat |
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| 100 grams merino wool/angora fingering weight yarn after 24 hours in the dye pot |
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