1000g of wool

I dyed nine skeins of wool and one 100g hank of roving today. 

Coreopsis tinctoria

 The first three hanks were dyed with various flowers from my dye garden.  I've been cutting and drying them for about two weeks now.  They were a mix of coreopsis tinctoria, yellow and orange marigolds, dyers camomile and a couple of Mexican zinnias.  They were a mix of dried and fresh flowers so weighing them wouldn't have mattered.  I'm guessing that there were about 100g of flowers total.

First and second mixed flower dye extractions

 The first extraction produced a vibrant orange.  Two subsequent baths produced softer and duller peachy oranges. I used the exhaust baths to dye 100g of Shetland roving.
The best surprise of the day was a test I did with some dried chocolate cosmos.  The sample is a deep olive green with warm orange overtones.

Chocolate cosmos test

I made a few more baths with fermented lichen liquors. 

Dyeing with fermented lichen liquor

I saved the leftover lichen for a second fermentation.

The leftover lichen

The last bath was a bit of an experiment.  It was an "ice flower" bath made from dark purple petunias and pansies.  I got the idea from India Flint's book "Eco Colour".  The flowers are frozen and then boiling water is poured over then.  The dye is massaged out and then the skein of wool is added.  It's not a light fast dye, but I though I'd give it a try.  The bath was a bright blue until I added the skein of wool.  Apparently these flower dyes are very sensitive to ph.

Ice flower bath

All of the yarns I dyed today were premordanted with alum.