Achillea millefolium, achillée, Schafgarbe, milenrama, athair thalún

I had to pull most of the yarrow out as it was taking over, and growing under the rose bush meant any attempt to keep it tidy was quite a prickly experience, so out it came leaving plenty of dye material to play with!

The stalks dried well and were chopped, stored in an old coffee jar and forgotten for a while. I didn’t bother weighing them, but estimate there was at least 200% wof. It was simmered for about an hour, strained, then the yarn was added. Similar to the other recent experiments the skeins were, left to right: no mordant, 8%/7% alum/CoT, no mordant + alkaline modifier, alum/CoT mordant + alkaline modifier.

The modifier (bicarb) turned the green skeins yellow, similar to many other garden dye plants. The original green (without mordant), however, is one colour I’ve never attained before and one to try again soon using a higher %wof to get a deeper shade.