We're back at it folks; through 2017 we ran our inaugural CWM Natural Dye Club in collaboration with fibre artist, Megan Samms, and it was such a fun and educational experience that we're running one again in 2018!
The CWM Natural Dye Club is a great way for you to try your hand at making and using plant dyes on wool creating beautifully coloured yarns with all-natural pigments. How does it work? You purchase the subscription online or through our shop out here at the mill and we send you a kit containing Mule Spinner 1-Ply yarn, a pattern, and sign-up instructions for correspondence. Then, starting in spring 2018, we send out monthly correspondence to walk you through the process of taking your skeins from white yarn to a hand-dyed, hand-knit thing of exception!
The 2018 Dye Club will make use of common kitchen scraps to get a range of pinks, yellows, blue/greys, and browns. (We'll even throw in our favourite food recipes to help you collect those kitchen scraps!). The pattern is for a sturdy little shawl. Both the dyeing and knitting are appropriate for the enthusiastic beginner and experienced knitter alike.
If you've been following along with us, you probably know that we are all about the natural dyeing. That's because, as folks concerned about the environment and social justice, there are sooo many reasons to get better acquainted with how we make and use colour in our human world. The global textile industry is one of the greatest contributors to environmental pollution in the world and synthetic dyeing practices have a lot to do with that (if you want to learn more about the problem, read about it in our 2017 blog). We believe that becoming more informed and learning about environmentally healthful alternative dyeing practices, such as traditional plant dyeing, can be part of the pollution solution. So, sign up here and join us - we think you'll enjoy the process!
