Dyeing Wool with Red Wine

Everyone knows how hard — nearly impossible — it is to get red wine stains out of a white shirt. So I thought, why not use that staining power and try dyeing yarn with it?

I had read about dyeing with grapes before, and wine is basically the same thing — maybe even better, since it naturally contains a bit of cream of tartar, which could help the dye stick.

So I went to my local Lidl and picked up the cheapest red wine I could find.

The yarn had already been soaked overnight in a solution of washing soda (sodium carbonate), as usual.

I poured all 1.5 liters of wine into my dye pot, added a bit of citric acid, then gently placed the yarn in. I slowly heated the pot, letting it simmer for about an hour, stirring from time to time. (I’m not a fan of perfectly even color — it feels a bit too artificial for me.) Then I turned off the heat and let everything cool down completely.

After that, it was the usual rinse and dry. And here’s what I got:

Base yarn: 75% superwash wool, 25% nylon, 50 g / 200 m.