Hand Dyed Yarn - Using Grape Juice To Make Your Own Dye

Creating your own hand dyed yarn isn't difficult and can be fun. With a little practice, you'll making yarn that is beautiful and unique. Here's a recipe using grape juice. With wool get a dusty-rose color, on cotton you'll get soft lavender.

The following yarn dye is made from frozen juice which you can buy at your local supermarket. You'll also need some salt.

First off you should select your yarn that is to be hand dyed. Different fibers take dye differently. All-wool yarn, like Lion Wool, takes on color much more easily than other fibers. Cotton takes on very subtle, pastel shades when hand dyed. In fact, you'll find that using the same dye on a wool fiber and a cotton fiber can produce fibers of differing colors.

All the equipment you need to dye yarn is in the kitchen. Until quite recently hand dyeing yarn was a quite common activity in most kitchens. The following items are what you'll need.

1. One good knife and chopping board.
2. Stainless steel or enamel pots. Don't use those coated with anti-stick materials.
3. A stove - of course.
4. A timer - not an egg timer but something that lasts a period of time; a clock will suffice.
5. You need tongs or spoons to handle the yarn. If you doing more than one color at a time you should use different utensils.
6. You need a clothes horse or somewhere else to allow your yarn to dry.
7. Takes notes. If you make a color you like you'll want to repeat it; detailed notes about quantities and timing will help you to repeat the process.

Making the grape juice dye

This quantity is enough to make 2 skeins of wool or cotton: 2 large cans of frozen grape juice; you can use fresh grape; 4 tbsp salt; 4 cans water.

Bring the above to the boil, stirring occasionally.

Bundle the yarn for dying into a hank. It should be looped loosely so that the dye will be able to circulate freely but also needs to be secured so it does not tangle; you don't want to be spending a lot of time untangling it when it's wet. Bundling is particularly important for wool yarn, which will felt together if allowed to move during dying. Here is how to make the bundles:

Wind the yarn into a large loop. You can do this on a swift; by wrapping it around the back of a chair; by wrapping it around your forearm from your fingers; under your elbow and back up again.

Secure the wound yarn by tying it loosely in two places using short sections.

If your pot is small, double the loop, twisting it into a smaller circle and securing it with two more short pieces of yarn.

You help to spread the dye evenly but first dampening the yarn.

Carefully put the yarn in to the dye bath.

Cook the yarn for 1 hour. If the liquid evaporates below the height of the yarn you can add more water.

Test the color by taking a small section and rinsing it. If you like the color you can remove the yarn or else leave it longer to take on more color.

After one hour, remove the yarn from the bath and rinse it in cool water. Rinse the yarn until the water runs clear. Do NOT throw away the dye bath until the yarn has dried completely and you know you are satisfied with the color. Find out whether your yarn is color-fast by rinsing with soap as well as water. It's better to find out now before you've made the yarn into something.

Wring out the yarn.

Cut the second set of ties on the yarn, but leave the first ones in so that the yarn is in a big loop. When dying wool, put it back on the swift or chair or whatever you used when you first wound it. Rewind the yarn into a ball and then rewind it back into its loop. This will help to unfelt some of the strands that may have felted together slightly. It's much easier to unfelt yarn when it's damp.

Vegetable Juice Recipes

The importance and health benefit of fresh vegetables in the diet has always been stressed since time immemorial. In addition to the interesting vegetable recipes in various cuisines across the globe, there exists a simple and healthy way for consumption of fresh and healthy vegetables – vegetable juice. One common question is the consumption of vegetable juices synonymous with a raw diet? Well, of course not. Vegetable juices can be made from raw as well as boiled vegetables.

Vegetable Juice: Vegetable Nutrition Facts

Different vegetables contain varying amounts of nutritional contents. However, on an average, all the vegetables contain lesser proportions of protein and fat and relatively greater proportions of dietary fiber, vitamins, provitamins, dietary minerals and carbohydrates. Some vegetables also contain phytochemicals, which may have antioxidant, antibacterial, anti-fungal, antiviral and even anti-carcinogenic properties.

Vegetable Juice Recipes: Is it Safe to Consume Raw Vegetable Juice?

Although vegetable juices are relatively easy to prepare, there is a limited set of vegetables that can be made with raw vegetables. Commonly used vegetables in fresh vegetable juices are cucumbers, celery, carrots, tomatoes, zucchini, other squashes and even fresh green vegetables like spinach, wheat grass or even lettuce. In addition to this, while consuming raw vegetable juices, it is very essential to clean the vegetables thoroughly in order to get rid of any chemicals or pesticides that have been applied to the vegetables.

In addition to this, several medical conditions might call for cooked vegetables and restrict the consumption of raw vegetables. You need to consult your physician and make sure your digestive system would have no trouble with consumption of raw vegetables. One more important issue to keep in mind if you are planning to consume raw vegetable juices regularly is that you must keep on including a variety of vegetables and not stick to one single type for a prolonged period.

Vegetable Juice Recipes

One of the first issues in the consumption of vegetable juices is the taste factor. Most of the vegetables don’t have an appetizing taste on their own and hence need to be enhances with some flavoring with sugar, salt, or some tang. Here are some exciting vegetable juice recipes that you can incorporate in your diet. However if you are suffering from any medical conditions that require you to follow a rigid diet, then you must consult your physician and dietitian before your start consuming these vegetable juices.

Tomato Mint Delight

Looking for a healthy accompaniment to your morning bread on the breakfast table? Try this fresh and healthy tomato juice preparation with a dash of fresh mint. The healthy energizer drink can be a great way to start your day.

Prickly Pear Juice Benefits

Prickly pear is also known by other names like nopal cactus, barbary fig cactus, opuntia, Indian fig prickly pear cactus, tuna cardona, westwood pear, etc. Prickly pear is used in many recipes; it is used for making salads, marmalades, dessert sauces and jellies. Prickly pear juice gives a deep red color, and has many benefits. Prickly pears have flattened oval or round stems with spines, these can be long or thick in shape or short or fine in shape. Prickly pear is found growing in North American deserts, Southwest US, Mexico and can also be found in Canada. This cactus plant gets red, yellow or reddish-purple blooms and grows to a height of 1 to 6 feet. The juice of prickly pear fruit and stem is known to have many important nutrients, which provide many health benefits.

Prickly Pear Health Benefits

Listed below are the various prickly pear juice health benefits from the fruit, and prickly pear stem benefits.

Antioxidant Benefits: The cactus pads of prickly pear contain many essential vitamins and minerals. It contains potassium, magnesium, calcium and iron. It is also high in dietary fiber and antioxidant vitamin A which is present in the form of beta-carotene. It also contains antioxidant vitamin C. Antioxidant acts as scavengers against free radicals in the body and prevent arterial cholesterol and reverse the arterial damage. Antioxidants, thus help prevent cancer and any pre-mature aging.

Anti-Inflammatory Properties: Among thousands of botanical species of plant, nopal cactus is the only plant known which contains 24 of the known betalains, which are potent anti-inflammatory antioxidants. Hence, prickly pear juice benefits in chronic inflammation problems.

Prickly Pear Juice Hangover Cure: Many researches show that taking prickly pear cactus juice before drinking alcohol can reduce some of the symptoms of the hangover which will occur the next day. The juice seems to significantly reduce anorexia, nausea and dry mouth symptoms. However, it doesn't reduce symptoms like headache, diarrhea, soreness or dizziness.

Amino Acids: The pads of prickly pear fruit contains a full range of amino acids, which are building blocks of protein including the 8 essential amino acids, which are not made by our body. It is very rare that a plant provides so many essential amino acids.

Diabetes: The stems of one of the species of prickly pear cactus called opuntia streptacantha, helps in lowering blood sugar levels of people having type 2 diabetes. Single doses of this cactus pulp can decrease blood sugar levels by 17 to 46%. Though, it is not known if everyday use can consistently reduce the blood sugar level.

Immunity Booster: The mucilage found inside the sticky pads of the stem. The mucilage contains polysaccharides. Polysaccharides are the primary active ingredients which is found in other immune system stimulating plants like aloe and oriental mushrooms.

Prickly Pear Syrup Recipe

To make a prickly pear juice syrup, use 20 prickly pears; remove their spikes, wash the fruits and chop them into small pieces. Puree them in a food processor, then push everything through a coarse food mill, to get maximum pulp. Then run the pulp through a fine mesh sleeve, a cheesecloth works fine too. Add 1 and half cup sugar to the juice, simmer it slowly to medium heat for 15 minutes. Then add juice of one lemon to it. Pour the juice while its hot into clean Mason jars and seal them shut, refrigerate, and consume within few weeks.

These were the various prickly pear juice benefits. While selecting prickly pear, avoid the ones which are soft or have dark soft spots on them. The fruit is generally harvested in late summer or early fall. If you are picking the fruit from the plant, then use leather or rubber gloves, and ripen the fruit at room temperature. Remove all the spines before using it for cooking or making juice.