I decided to make my dad a beanie for him to wear out on his ranch, made from the wool from my sheep and dyed with the hulls from his pecans. It was quite a journey. I have been asked how long it took. I really have no idea, but many many hours. He's definitely worth it.
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Pecans in their hulls. The hulls are the greenish covering that eventually splits open to reveal pecan nuts in their shells. I highly recommend wearing nitrile gloves while handling the hulls or any of the dye throughout the process. The hulls/dye will not hurt you; it will just stain your skin for many days.
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I cut up pecan hulls into little chunks. Added water to the pan and let simmer for 2-4 hours. I honestly cannot remember how long.
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Cormo combed top from my own sheep. I like to form a wreath with my fiber by going around and around in a circle, then using a synthetic yarn to tie it loosely together at four points around the wreath.
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I then placed my fiber wreath into lukewarm water and let it soak for about 30 minutes. There is no need to add anything to the water for a mordant. The pecan hulls contain enough tannins that a mordant is unnecessary.
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After simmering for several hours, all of the pecan hull bits sunk to the bottom of the pan. You can see how dark the water is now.
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In order to keep the wool clean, I placed a strainer over a bucket and poured the pecan hull water mixture into the bucket in order to separate out the pecan hulls. I then poured the strained darkened water back into the pot.
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I removed my wet fiber from the bucket of water and gently squeezed out as much water as I could from the fiber. I then placed it into the dye pot. I let it sit in the dye pot for about 4 hours while keeping the pot warm. DO NOT BOIL. Occasionally I would rotate the wool in order to dye the fiber evenly.
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It looks like something has happened! I removed the fiber from the pot and placed it into a bucket, then I gently poured the dye into the same bucket. I let he fiber sit in that bucket my my laundry sink for the remaining part of the day and until the next morning. I would rotate the position of the fiber within the bucket every few hours so that it would dye evenly, although I did not wake up in the middle of the night to do this. That would just be going too far. I like my sleep.
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The big reveal the next morning pulling it out of the dye bath. I gently rinsed the fiber with warm water and a touch of dawn until the water was fairly clear.
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Hanging to dry over the laundry sink.
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Hanging to dry by the fire, because I'm impatient.
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All dry! It worked! Comparing the Cormo combed top that was not dyed to the the top that was. Actually these photos don't do the real color justice. It's a beautiful tan with red undertones.
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The yarn on the niddy noddy.
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Setting the twist.
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Drying by the fire.
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The yarn as a center pull ball.
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Happy pecan farmer!