Using Natural coloured yarns for Dyeing

We have quite a few naturally coloured yarns in our range, from the Natural grey alpaca in our grey Angel to the honey comb camel in our Camel silk blends. We also often get asked if these are ok to dye or whether they have to be used as they are. You will be glad to know the answer is both! We produce these yarns with the coloured bases to give a twist and depth to your dyeing. The natural grey in the yarns will add a depth to colours, the light greys producing a smokyness and the darker colours creating a rich undertone to your colours. 

To show you what I mean I dyed 3 yarns. Angel which comes in the natural white and then the natural grey, pictures on the left and middle. On the right is the Tibetan which has a much cooler darker grey base, which can make colours almost iridescent at times, I have seen some wonderful yarns by my fav dyers using this base, they are magical in quality.

So.. below here are the undyed bases:

Natural Angel 4ply and tibetan 4ply

Below are the same 3 yarns dyed in one dye bath at the same time, I choose a semisolid light pink because it shows off the effect better:

Angel and Tibetan Dyed pale pink

To show you the warmth a brown base can create, here is a hand paint I did a while ago, the natural honey comb colour of the yarn richens the colours and adds tremendous warmth:

Camel Silk Lace 49029

I highly recommend having a go at using natural colours!

To show you other uses for the natural colours we also use them as they are I decided to have a go weaving them, (ignore my tension lol its just a practice)

Angel Tibetan and Camel silk weaving

A little zigzag stole Lottie designed for the Angel 4ply Natural and Natural Grey:

Happy Dyeing!

Jeni