I want to naturally dye yarn
Maybe the other houses cast a shadow on your house, therefore, the sun not reaching it, to melt the snow.
Safflower (carthamus tinctorius) is a common food and dye plant in many parts of the worldIt bears yellow flowers which contain both yellow and red pigments within the blossomsIt has been used for centuries as a true saffron substitute and adulterantAnother name one sees it referred to is poor man's saffronIt is a useful plant with seeds which are used to produce safflower oil and meal for feeding livestockHowever, as the botanic name tinctorius indicates, it best known as a dye plantTo extract the yellow for coloring food saffron yellow the plant just needs to be steeped in a mildly acidic solution like a soup brothTo dye cloth or fiber yellow, the petals need to soaked in a mild vinegar solutionBobbi McRae in COLORS FROM NATURE recommends a cup of vinegar to a gallon of waterLike madder, heat is the enemy of good color extraction in safflower, so just soak the petals over night in the vinegar water or make a sun tea of everything and let it sit for a few days in the sun.Strain out the petals working them a bit to extract the last of the yellow To obtain the red within the petals wash the last of the yellow out (after the vinegar extraction) with water agitating them a bitStrainThen place the washed petals in fresh water and add some ammonina, or washing soda to create a basic solution as opposed to an acidic oneAgain like madder, a basic solution helps extract the red tones in the plant matterSoak overnight or as a sun teaIf in a rush, you can heat the solution to 150 degrees F, but proceed very cautiouslySafflower seems to like heat even less than madder if you want to extract a nice red tone.
