Avocado = pink

So, I came across a post on Facebook a couple of weeks ago, about dyeing with avocado. The author had gotten a beautiful shade of dusty pink, and I wanted to try it out! I used my Google-fu to search up all the info I could find, and also scoured my groups on Facebook for tips and tricks. Some people got brown, others grey, while some got the sought after pink.

Some places it said that avocado isn’t at all lightfast, and yet others said that it barely fades with normal use. Who’s right? I guess I’ll find out eventually. For now, my goal was to get pink! So I followed the information I had gathered to the point:

• Remove all the green flesh from peel and stones
• Add to cold water
• Add a few spoons of baking soda (this should make it more pink)
• Heat up slowly, and never above 80 Celsius!
• Do not boil, or it will give you brown, for sure.
• If you’re after grey, use iron as a mordant or in the pot.
• The color comes from the large amount of tannins in the avocado, and different types can give different colors. The season can also impact the shades. You never really know exactly what you get.
• You do not need a mordant, since the tannins binds the color to the fibers.

We don’t really eat avocado, except for as guacamole when we make tacos. So I saved up for a couple of weeks, and stored the stones and peel in the freezer. I used 4 avocados, and the results were awesome! So much better than I expected. It took some time for the color to come out, and the yarn needed a long time in the pot. But so pretty! I love the colors. Decided to finish up last weeks dye bath from the velvet-footed pax, and made some more green, as well as some multicolored skeins.