Last weekend we cooked up a big pot of beets...some were pickled and a few quarts frozen for mid-winter bliss. It seemed a shame to waste that pretty purple water so I added a few teaspoons of alum and a couple of mini-skeins of yarn to experiment with. The skein to the left is white cormo and the skein to the right is light gray Shetland. I simmered the yarn for about fifteen minutes and then let it soak for a couple of hours in the beet juice. After dumping the juice out I rinsed the yarn until it ran clear-ish, and then soaked the skeins in some water with a bit of vinegar in it. I then rinsed the yarn until it ran clear. The skeins turned out pretty cool- I really like the dusty rose the gray turned. I'm not sure how color fast they might be so I think I'll hang a strand of each in a sunny window to test that out.... The next pot of beet juice I'll be freezing and saving for a later date!
Nice. Have you tried osage orange? Use the sawdust and simmer them in water until it is yellow and then strain the wood particles and do the same as above.
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