Dyeing wool

I love dyeing wool. There is a childish pleasure over playing with colors, mixing colors that usually wouldn't go together, in a big pot, and getting a smashing result out of it. Sometimes I don't like the braid, but after it's spun up, I'll love the yarn. It changes so much throughout the process.

Apart from dying with onion skin, I've only ever tried Jacquard Acid Dyes. The acid is used to set the dye in the wool, and in this process it's white vinegar. Gloves, goggles and good ventilation recommended (though I usually skim on the first two, since I like being hands on and I'm already wearing glasses in order to see anything at all.) Even if the process is fairly safe, I have special pots for the dye that I never ever cook food in. These are just old pots bought at a second-hand store for close to nothing.

I'm not very careful with the amounts of anything. I don't measure up grams of dye, the amount of water or vinegar. I could definitely be more accurate, but it takes some of the fun out of it for me. I never go back and dye the same colorway anyways. If I was to do that I would need accurate measurements.

I also experiment on whether I put the vinegar in right away or later. It depends on how much I want the color to soak into the wool before it's permanent, and how even I want the result to be. The rule of thumb is: Vinegar will make the color set immediately. If put in first the color won't have time to coat the wool evenly. If the wool is allowed to soak in the dye for a few hours first, before vinegar is added, you will get a more even result. If that makes sense?

Anyways, this dye is great in my opinion, and can be bought from a huge range of places. I always buy mine from Spinnvilt, which is a great option if you're in Norway (they do international shipping as well and they've got great customer service). I've also seen this dye on E-bay and Amazon.

Natural dying is a process I'm interested in, but I've got minimal experience. I've dyed with onion skin a few times, and we always put our onion skins in a bag in the kitchen cabinet so that I can use it at a later date. Onion skin will give an earthy orange tone on the wool, and it's very wash proof.