Dyeing Wool Yarn with Red Cabbage

Here’s another natural dyeing experiment I’ve been wanting to try: dyeing with red cabbage. It finally showed up in our local stores, so I could give it a go!

I chopped up 600 g of red cabbage and poured 1 liter of distilled water over it. Then I simmered it on low heat for about 1 to 1.5 hours, turned off the heat, and let it cool down naturally.

For the yarn (50 g / 205 m, 75% wool and 25% polyamide), I soaked it in 1 liter of water with 2 tablespoons of cream of tartar.

By the evening, the dye bath had cooled, and it was time to add the yarn. I didn’t strain out the cabbage because I wanted to create some natural gradients in the color. I gently squeezed out the yarn and placed it at the bottom of the pot, making sure the cabbage covered it completely. It stayed there overnight and through the next day. After that I transferred everything into a jar.

The jar went into a dark corner of the garden for 4 days.

After 4 days, I took out the yarn, washed and dried it — and here’s the result!