Continuing with our loose theme of exploring the world’s fascinating, dyeable materials from trees and branches, in this blog we’ll be applying Cutch, a dye that comes from the heartwood of the acacia catechu tree. This tree grows in India, Burma, Indonesia and Peru, and my cutch dye comes from the Indian variety and is able to achieve a range of soft, golden-brown tones into medium cinnamon tones. While generally...

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With the advent of medical marijuana and CBD legalization sweeping the world, I’ve been seeing more opportunities to work with one of the oldest natural dyes: hemp. Hemp has long been used as a fabric and material base, but did you know that it’s also possible to dye soft yellows with the stems, stalks and leaves of the hemp plant? When I moved into my home last year, I was surprised to find...

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Ombré is when color is shaded or graduated in tone - which means it transitions from dark to light. This is a beautiful effect in yarn that can often work up to create stripes and pools of color in knit and crochet. Today on the blog we are going to be dyeing up a purple ombré using Latte - a soft and squishy baby alpaca yarn that is perfect for a hat or sweater!

Supplies:

2 skeins LATTE 2 grams Deep...

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Baby alpaca yarn is a treasure in a dyer’s arsenal. The delicate haze of baby alpaca and its delightful warmth make it a favorite for cold weather accessories and sweaters. Alpaca are naturally gentle on the ecosystem, making their fibre an environmentally friendly choice.  It can be tricky to dye alpaca, as the fibre does take a bit of coaxing to absorb the color to the intensity you might desire. Armed with a little bit of know how, we will have...

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Next up in our video series, learn a bit more about Alpaca! To make our superb alpaca yarns, Knomad works exclusively with fibre experts who have specialized in alpaca for generations. This means we only source the finest alpaca with the highest standards for the ecology! These alpaca live in harmony with their native habitat, grazing out in the gorgeous open fields of the Andean highlands, eating a naturally vegetarian diet. Careful attention to the alpaca makes the best yarn. We think you’ll appreciate...

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Today in our video series "How Undyed Yarn is Made", we’re meeting Miriam and Lourdes, two of the master sorters at the Arequipa, Perú based mill we work with. This process is special to the Alpaca yarn production process.

Alpaca is a species of South American camelid closely related to llamas. This region has raised alpaca for their wool for centuries, all the while perfecting a sophisticated fibre processing technique over generations.

OUR STORIES

Miriam...

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