WAITLIST - In Person Introduction to Natural Yarn Dyeing with Liz Baltez

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I cannot wait for this workshop, so much so I'm keeping a space back for myself to join in!

Join Liz for an introductory workshop for people curious about dyeing with plants and other natural materials. This is a very practical workshop where you will work to extract colour from plants and use it to dye skeins of wool.

Liz will be helping you dye mordanted mini skeins of superwash merino fingering weight yarn and participants will take home six 20g skeins, yes that's 120g worth of yarn in total! You will use a variety of dye sources including fresh and dried plants and high quality natural dye extracts. The exact dyes will be decided nearer the time, but may include madder, weld, logwood, onion skins, Saxon Blue, tansy, dock leaves and walnut.

The key elements of the workshop include:
Overview of natural dyeing process
Safety considerations
Choosing and preparing yarn
Mordanting options
Creating colour from plants and extracts
The dyeing process
Extending the colour range using modifiers, exhaust baths and over dyeing
Finishing the dyeing process
Keeping dyeing records

Useful resources included
Getting started – the evolution of Liz's dyeing practice
Specific recipes for the dyes used on the workshop

There is no preparatory work required. Please do wear old clothes and bring rubber gloves and six plastic bags, so you can take home your six damp skeins. You may also want to bring an apron. Dyeing isn’t any messier than cooking, so if you are a messy cook bring an apron to be on the safe side, as some of the dye stuffs stain very easily.

We will have a lunch break around 12-1pm so please bring some food with you.

Also please be aware, as with all of our workshops this will be taking place upstairs in Knit With Me which is accessed via a spiral staircase. The toilets are in the basements which are accessed, you guessed it, via a spiral staircase. 

Finally we need a minimum of 6 bookings for the class to go ahead. If we do not meet the minimum you will be offered a new date or a refund. 

A little about Liz Baltesz

Liz is passionate about playing with colour, both as a natural dyer and knitter. She has been experimenting with colour in knitting since the 1980s. About 10 years ago Liz noticed that here favourite yarns were often dyed with plants, so she went on a workshop at Renaissance Dyeing and got totally hooked. Since then, she has led natural dyeing classes at Unravel Festival, Wild & Woolly in Hackney. Liz loves foraging for dye plants locally, in the marshes around Walthamstow and Hackney and Epping Forest.