New Website!

Hi everyone - I am excited to announce that I have launched the Passioned Flower website.

All things Passioned Flower including the shop and blog can now be found at www.passionedflower.com.

A snap shot of my dyeing process

Dyeing yarn has become a huge part of my life now, but when I started out I was not sure what I was doing. I taught myself through experimentation, reading blogs and forums and watching podcasts.

I thought I would share a little of what I do - especially for those of you out there who see it as a mysterious and complicated thing. This is certainly not a comprehensive guide or the only way to dye, it is just a little of what I have taught myself.

1. Start with undyed/bare yarn - I have some yarn that comes in pre-measured skeins, like the ones in the top left, but I also buy yarn in larger hanks and on cones, that I wind off into skeins myself. I add additional ties to each skein to stop it from tangling.

2. I use Jacquard acid dyes - these are a powder dye, activated by acid (vinegar or citric acid). I currently have 12 different colours. I use a dust mask to protect myself while mixing the powdered dyes and make a stock of each colour (a mix of the powder and water) that I keep in squeeze bottles. Then when creating colourways, I mix the stock dyes together to create unique colours. I write down each of my recipes in a note book, with steps for each layer of dye.

3. To prepare the yarn for dyeing, I soak it in slightly warm water and a little bit of wool soap.

4. Most of the time when I dye I have an end result colour in mind, the example above is my Fuchsia colourway. I took a photo of the flower from my garden and mixed the dyes with the end result in mind.

5. I measure out the dye, writing down my recipe as I go, and add it to the pot, along with vinegar and turn on the heat. I then add the wet skeins of yarn to the pot and allow the dye to absorb, keeping the water at a steady heat just below a simmer. Once the water is clear (or close to it) I remove the yarn and add another dye mixture. I usually then unravel, or re-twist the yarn, to expose different sections to the dye and place it back into the pot. Depending on the colour I could repeat this part of the process a number of times.

6. Once the final layer of colour has been applied I keep the heat on for a little longer and then put the lid on and turn off the heat. I leave the yarn in the pot and leave it to cool. This stage allows any remaining dye to be taken up by the yarn and provides residual heat to set the colour.

7. When the yarn is cool, I drain off the water and rinse, before leaving it to soak in slightly warm water and a wool soap. This removes any excess dye and washes away any vinegar.

8. Next is to get the yarn dry. For my superwash wool I give it a little spin in the washing machine (in a delicates bag) and then hang it over a drying racks to get plenty of airflow. I rotate the skeins to  help them dry evenly.

9. Final stage once the yarn is dry is to rewind the yarn back into a neat skein. I cut all of the ties and wind it into a skein. This realigns the colours and tidies up the skein after going through the dyeing process.

As I mentioned earlier, this is just one way that I use and I am mostly self taught. There are so many ways to dye, you can be very scientific or very relaxed and organic.

Yarn dyeing - my journey so far

It was only at the beginning of this year that I took the plunge to try dyeing yarn.

I have experimented with sprinkling powder directly into the pot

I have squirted stock dyes directly into the pot and on to yarn with a vague plan and no intention of being able to replicate the outcome, and wound yarn for my first attempt at self striping.

I have progressed quickly from this ad hoc kind of approach, to dyeing with more intention. Basing my colour decisions on inspiration and planning the outcome of the yarn. I am taking a lot of photo's mostly of flowers and leaves, but also of the sky, sea, graffiti and anything else the catches my eye.

I now take careful and detailed notes as I dye. Tracking exact amounts of dye, the method used, steps taken and time the yarn spends in the pot.

Iris and City Sunset

Teal not Green and Winter Roses

Yarn dyeing has definitely become an obsession, a passion that I want to pursue as a business and share my creations and inspirations with other crafters.

This is a big and scary step! Putting my creations out there in to the world for judgement, not only that but embarking on a small business without much experience is quite daunting.

I have enrolled in a short e-course by Create & Thrive, called Set Up Shop. It is a step by step guide, covering all aspects of what goes in to setting up an on-line craft business. I am finding it extremely useful and thought provoking. It has been reassuring, some of what we have covered I had already considered myself. I just never had the confidence to put it in to action. Having someone who has already experienced success in this area providing this guide has given me the extra drive to push ahead.

Stayed tuned to see how things progress from here. Much work is going on in the background. I will post progress and thoughts of the course as well as updates on the shop.

What inspires me

Most of my thoughts on the blog so far have been directly about knitting or yarn. Sharing my projects and progress.

As the seasons change and the spring flowers take over the garden I thought I would share what is currently inspiring me.

In my very first post I wrote about how craft feeds the soul, the grounding factor that creates peace and provides escape. The action of making something, creating an idea in my head, and then using my hands to make that idea come to life.

This is definitely the driving force behind why I craft. It is my escape, my happy place and my creative outlet.

Everyday, out in the world, I take note of how colour occurs in nature. The combinations of colour and the vibrancy catch my eye. How amazing are these colours from my garden this morning!?!?!

How can seeing this beauty in nature not lead to inspiration?



To begin with it makes me happy. I put hard work into my garden throughout the year and these are the results of that work. Proud displays of the care that I have taken.

Flowers and foliage are also great guides on which to base colourways for yarn. Nature has a way of getting things right, so it is fun to try to capture that in dye.

I grab my camera out frequently to capture these types of images. Fuel for my creative fire.

What inspires you? Where does your craft inspiration come from?