We had a little boy come over with his parents for a playdate with our son. They are two years old. It was a lovely day. We walked around our property (we just bought it in April) and there was a strange large plant that my husband commented on. I thought it was Concord Grapes. I suggested we all try one. My husband and our guests were hesitant and I assured them that, having grown up in this town, I knew what it was and it was safe. My husband and the little boy’s mom tasted the berries. So did I. They weren’t very good. I spit mine out, but the others didn’t. I loved the rich, vibrant color of the berries and I picked a large handful and brought them into the house to dye yarn. I cooked the berries in water, mashed the juice and added white vinegar. I stuck in two skeins of qiviut/angora and they came out incredibly lovely (they are listed separately)! I poured the liquid down the drain, threw away the seeds in the bottom of the pot and figured I ought to research the berries. Well, it turns out they were pokeberries, and they are poisonous to humans. I felt horrible. I called our new friends and explained. She was fine. My husband was fine. Nobody got hurt. I just got severely embarrassed. Thank goodness the kids didn’t have any!

So, as it turns out, pokeberry makes excellent natural dye! My husband went outside and destroyed (uprooted) the plant, because we have two young children and we don’t want them to get poisoned! I went outside with a large bowl and collected all the remaining berries. I cut up my legs in the bushes, but it was worth it! I prepared the dye bath as before, this time in a bigger pot and with an assortment of yarn skeins, including this skein. In the picture of all the skeins in the dye lot, it’s the one on the far left. The true color is somewhere in between the two pictures.

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