My surgeon’s nurse was fascinated by the knowledge that I had a flock of sheep. She let on that she liked to knit and shyly let on that she wanted some yarn. So, I was on a mission.
While I was home, I dethawed some blueberries and prepared to mordant some of my raw yarn I had prepared by the Pioneer Fiber Mill.

I modified a mordant recipe and procedure from Botanical Colors. Once I had finished mordanting the yarn, I was ready to dye it.

Meanwhile, I had been preparing the dye itself.


Once the blueberries had simmered for 45 minutes and cooled, I strained the liquid. I then placed the yarn in the strained dye for an hour. After rinsing the dyed yarn in cold water, I decided it needed to be simmered in the dye in cast iron for another hour. After that, I decided to let the yarn to sit in cooled dye overnight as I was looking for a much darker color.

Needless to say, my surgeon’s nurse was thrilled with the gift and tickled that I remembered her shy request.
August 13, 2022 at 10:04 am
Hi, I was wondering what kind of mordant you used? I work on a blueberry farm and wanted to try my hand at this. Yours came out so perfect!
August 13, 2022 at 1:02 pm
Katy, I used granulated alum powder (food grade), also known as aluminum sulfate, as the mordant. You’re surrounded by blueberries – an endless supply of dye – so lucky!