Local Yarns

Madder Harvest

2011-10-21T19:19:00.000-07:00

Digging the Madder roots out of the garden.

These plants are three years old.

Bucket of roots

Madder fruits. Each has a seed inside.

Here are the roots washed. We dug 290 grams today and 209 grams on Monday.

Summer Yarn

2011-09-17T14:00:00.000-07:00

Corriedale from Eastern Washington dyed with Coreopsis grandiflora flowers and a mixed solar vat of Coreopsis and Walnut Hulls. This was a carded batt that I dyed by sticking half of it into the jar with Coreopsis and half into the jar with simmered-one-time-already coreopsis and walnut hulls left over from last year. I left it in the sun for two or three days (we had a couple of weeks of hot weather finally!).
Then I divided the dyed batt in two lengthwise and spun each sort of woolen, not worrying much about neps or thicker spots. I plied by reversing the direction so that the contrasting oranges and browns were next to each other.

Summer Flowers/Solar dyeing

2011-09-11T14:33:00.001-07:00

Coreopsis tinctoria (Dyer's Coreopsis) and Anthemis tinctoria (Dyer's chamomile)

High summer - finally!

2011-08-03T16:55:00.001-07:00

After a wet and cold Spring and early Summer we are finally having some sun. The Coreopsis and Dyer's Chamomile (also known as Golden Marguerite) are fully blooming as is Black Hollyhock and Bronze Fennel.

Spring Planting

2011-03-20T14:36:00.000-07:00

Started indoors and then moved to a cold frame/greenhouse: Japanese Indigo, Dyer's Coreopsis, Red Gem Marigold, Alum Root, Madder, Weld (Dyer's Rocket),Tomatoes, Cauliflower, and Elecampane.

Late February Snow on Thursday

2011-02-27T19:17:00.001-08:00

Record cold temps on Friday night for the Pacific Northwest. This afternoon and evening it is raining. It will soon be time to start the dye plants for this season.

WILDEST thing you’ve ever done for your art or your craft.

2011-01-09T00:34:00.000-08:00

My husband is one of those non-fiber people who can’t tell if his socks are inside out or not. It’s okay, he has many other redeeming qualities! He saw It Itches! and liked the cartoons. And he is wonderful at “helping” me with my fiber obsessions.

The first time I made him, I mean he offered to, take me to look at an antique wheel for sale there were some things in the back of the pickup and I was worrying there might not be room for the wheel should I want to purchase it. Mind you, this was a scant two months after I bought my first wheel (a new modern one).

The antique in question was one of those poor spinning wheels someone had turned into a lamp and had a tall post coming out of the table, and the truck has a canopy. But I thought if the wheel were really great I could rescue it you know. He said, “Well, if it won’t fit in the truck I don’t think we can get it.” To which I stubbornly replied, “No, I’m not willing to decide that before we see it!” We almost had a fight but prudently decided to stop talking about it until we saw the wheel. It was in very bad shape: warped drive wheel, lamp post appendage, nailed tight tension adjustment piece; she said it had broken and been fixed.

My husband was very relieved I didn’t want to buy it. But I did make him stop at the nearest library so I could get on Ravelry and post that I hadn’t bought it in case another woman who had been interested wanted to go look. She had woodworking experience you know, but she decided against it.

Later that day I was unpacking and looked into the bed of the truck and burst out laughing. It would have been a very large wheel indeed to not fit in the truck! Gah! Spinning wheel fumes had finally cleared out of my head! Shortly after that I followed up on a Craigslist posting for a Canadian Production Wheel. That turned out to be a perfect wheel and we had a lovely trip involving two ferries to fetch her.

Japanese Indigo - Harvest and Seed Production

2010-10-29T22:10:00.000-07:00

Not a very focused picture but here is a bunch of cut Japanese Indigo flowering stalks. The weather is getting colder so these are brought into the house so the flowers will make and set seeds.

Japanese Indigo drying on racks. These were a thrift store find - toddler cots. I put toilet paper tubes on the feet to make more space between each level. After the leaves are dry I'll separate the stalks (those go in the regular compost) and compost the leaves in a burlap-lined bucket. Then form into cakes and dry. This preserves the pigment. It would be better if I could dry these outside in the sun but we aren't getting much of that at this time of year!

First Autumn Harvest

2010-09-24T11:11:00.000-07:00

It is past the Autumn Equinox so it is now officially Fall. We did have some nice sunny afternoons earlier this week. Then rain. Today is overcast.

From the garden by the house:
1. A few Japanese Indigo stalks that look like they're getting ready to bloom, put in a jar of water so I can bring them inside if it gets too cold. They should root and bloom and then I can collect seeds.

2. Mars Marigold (T. patula). Four blossoms only. Only one of these plants survived the slugs. Put in freezer.

3. Coreopsis grandiflora (the perennial type I hope). Added a handful of blossoms to the bag in freezer.

From the farm:
1. Tururu Marigold (T. erecta). Added a large handful of blossoms to jar soaking in alcohol and water. I didn't even buy these seeds until June and it took them awhile to get going. Now they are two feet tall and the flowers are big and bushy.

2. Pink Dahlia flowers. All dahlias make a variety of yellow and golden yellow. Added several large blossoms to bag in freezer.

3. Several Japanese Indigo stalks. Some with the rounded leaves and some with the pointed leaves. Put these into the jar with the ones from the garden.

4. Hawthorn twigs and leaves (and a few berries). Put these to soak in water in a rectangular slow-cooker that is about 8"x12".

5. Weld leaves. Into freezer.

A Blue Blue

2010-08-18T16:31:00.000-07:00

This skein was mordanted with alum and cream of tartar. Indigo doesn't need mordanting but maybe it brightens the color.

Indigo Yarns

2010-08-16T13:34:00.001-07:00

1) Alpaca/Wool Bouclé: First dip in a reduction vat. Second dip in a direct cold water/vinegar vat.
2) Hand-spun Mohair: Two dips in two different cold water/vinegar vats.
3) Merino: one dip in a cold water/vindgar vat. Will get a second dip.
4) Alpaca/Silk: First dip in a reduction vat. Second dip in a cold water/vinegar vat.

Indigo Harvest

2010-08-09T18:33:00.000-07:00

Today I harvested 1050 grams (2.25 lbs) of Japanese Indigo (Polygonum tinctorium, also known as Persicaria tinctoria). Here is the 2 gallon bucket with the cut stems:

I picked off the leaves into a gallon plastic bag for weighing, then cut them up with kitchen shears:

and stuffed them into a half gallon canning jar and filled it with warm water. Then I put the jar into a canning pot on a hotplate set to heat no higher than 100F to let it ferment overnight:

The next bag (250 g) I put into a 2 1/2 gallon plastic bucket with cold water. I'll add vinegar and macerate by hand to extract the color:

I also have 250g in a yogurt maker with water but it doesn't seem to be heating up much. I should have started with warm water. This is supposed to ferment too. I have just read a recipe for dyeing the fiber right away in the fermented liquid without beating it to oxygenate and then reducing it again. The fermentation splits the indican into indoxyl and glucose with carbon dioxide escaping as bubbles.

Coreopsis (mostly) Vat

2010-08-07T08:38:00.001-07:00

2010-07-25T23:05:00.000-07:00

More Green from Red

2010-07-14T19:43:00.000-07:00

I soaked this skein some more in the Red Blend Vat and then made a new one with the rest of the flowers I had collected. It is a little darker and not as yellow. I'm really not sure I like this color, but it depends on the light. The plan is to dye a skein of Pygora singles a similar but not exactly the same color and then ply the two skeins together. I could put them both into a Coreopsis vat or I could wait for the carrot tops to mature and try a green vat for the Pygora.

Green from Red

2010-07-13T22:24:00.001-07:00

Here is the result of a steeped dye vat (well, half gallon canning jar) of mixed red flowers from the garden. Red lilies, pink Poppies, and an unidentified red wildflower. The fiber is Mohair and Alpaca.

New Blog Design

2010-07-10T18:50:00.000-07:00

I love maps so I couldn't resist changing to this template. My fibers are not coming from around the world though. I've set a geographical source area of the Pacific Northwest including east of the Cascades. It's a very different climate better suited to Angora goats (Mohair) and Cashmere (also goats). I do have wool ready to spin that came from small farms in Ohio and Iowa, and Mohair from Texas in addition to very local island wool.

Eucalyptus Dye Vat

2010-07-01T10:12:00.000-07:00

Farmers Market High Fiber & Fine Yarns Event 2010

2010-05-23T08:20:00.000-07:00

Natural dyeing demonstration -A pot of Marigold Flower Extract

A pot of Scotch Broom Flowers

A pot of Eucalyptus Leaves (Red Iron Bark type)

Hanging to dry

Long Draw on the Canadian Production Wheel

Waiting for Sprouts

2010-05-13T10:17:00.000-07:00

I've started seeds in pots in the mini-greenhouse. This isn't a heated greenhouse so maybe is really a cold-frame. There are five shelves. I've planted:
Japanese Indigo from three different sources
Madder
Weld
Dyer's Coreopsis

Directly into the garden by the house:
Weld
Japanese Indigo
Yellow Cosmos
Dyer's Coreopsis

I'm hoping the Yellow Cosmos and Dyer's Coreopsis will reseed themselves.

My husband's report - back in December

2010-04-18T17:49:00.001-07:00

"Enable at your peril."

Friday was Laurel's birthday. Yesterday we drove through four counties and rode two ferries to look at a Canadian Production Wheel (cited so frequently on her knitters' forum that it is abbreviated as CPW). The wheel itself is half Laurel's height.
Although our part of the country hasn't been hit with the snow and rain that has reached so much of the U.S., it has been setting records for cold, and the dryness has to end soon. I was concerned that we reach the home of the seller and return to ours before moisture on the roads turns to black ice. I've spun out on black ice with an old Lambretta and I've wrecked a friend's car being the puck in an unwelcome game of Giant Table Shuffleboard, bouncing back and forth against guard rails on a moonlit country road in New England. I've reached my quota of black ice incidents.
Still, although Laurel pushed me out of bed for an early start, we had a few chores along the way. Find a transfer station and empty the recycling; find a bank and get some cash; eat. We reached their island after crossing the narrow channel on the tiny ferry. Directions to their home were great, and we found the house easily, with banners hanging. Artwork was everywhere - sculpture, plaques, a tiny pond. Although we'd been told this had been a manufactured home, we could barely discern the old lines and were romanced by the cedar shakes and shingles making up the siding and roofing. The interior, once we'd been greeted by a hug from the seller and a friendly "Hi, I'm Leo" from her husband, continued the explosion of art. The walls had been plastered over and painted with colors like buttercup and ochre. A wood stove pumped heat.
Jane, the seller, brought the wheel from one room out by the stove, found an armless chair for Laurel, and we all plumped down. Laurel had brought her buyer's preparedness kit (tape, wire, ruler, wool-to-spin, and more and more). She looked up and down and underneath, searching for a maker's mark, examining the wheel itself for true (relying on her many years of bicycling experience), stifling her visible enthusiasm, checking out the wrought iron footpad of the treadle.

Knowing that the best course for me was to keep my mouth shut, I asked if I could look at the art on the walls. Leo enthusiastically guided me through and into his workshop and his studio. He explained piece after piece (paintings using gold leaf and oxidized composite gold leaf; poured brass sculpture; huge carvings of eagles and turtles from burled wood; epoxy forms gold-leafed and oxidized). Everywhere some beautiful piece to catch the eye.

Meanwhile Laurel had tweaked a bobbin here, a hook there, spun wool she'd brought along, laughed and spun, chatted and spun, calculated and spun. I politely tapped my wristwatch and Leo volunteered the time of the next ferry to leave. I believe that none of us was surprised when Laurel hauled out her crisp bills and agreed to pay Jane. She hadn't haggled much (they had already brought the price down by a third through email correspondence) -- Jane agreed to throw in a huge bag of fleece. (Laurel's insisting that I look at the fleece right now.) Leo and I hauled the wheel out and carefully placed it in the pickup, piling cardboard here, bag O'fleece there, propping up the wheel and securing it.

The little ferry off their island was very late -- we saw a Medic van drive by and speculate that they had emptied the ferry and then reloaded it to get the van at the front. Finally we boarded, the little ferry churned across the short passage, and we wound our way toward the Interstate full of returning holiday shoppers. Our own ferry was on schedule and we got home, carried the wheel inside to join Laurel's two others and another one she had borrowed. We ate leftovers from the Indian restaurant where I'd taken her for her birthday, she rushed to the computer to write her own report (much more knitting-relevant than this one) and we toddled off to bed.

This morning she got up before I did (a rare occurrence) and started playing with her toy (advice had poured in overnight on care and treatment of her CPW). Anytime now she'll eat breakfast or lunch or whatever.

She promises that she won't need another wheel.

Enable at your peril.

Second Bobbin

2009-12-18T19:04:00.001-08:00

First Bobbin full

2009-12-18T19:03:00.001-08:00

On Canadian Production Wheel (CPW)

New Wheel!

2009-12-12T22:01:00.000-08:00

Flax Processing by Hand

2009-11-08T20:47:00.000-08:00

This flax has been retted. It was soaked in a wading pool for three or four weeks. Then dried for another two weeks on a rack in the garage. This meat tenderizer works okay but I'd like to have some more heavy duty tool for breaking up the pith.

I'm saving the seeds.

A lot of the pith has broken away and I'm pounding it some more.

This is one of the above four bundles that has been combed. I used a wool comb but a flax hackle would be faster.

Sunflowers

2009-10-18T10:26:00.000-07:00

2009-10-11T17:28:00.000-07:00

Flax retting in the field.

2009-10-10T12:36:00.000-07:00

2009-10-10T12:31:00.000-07:00

2009-09-14T10:52:00.000-07:00

Hand spun singles Mohair. Top to bottom: Japanese Indigo 1st vat (3 skeins), Dahlia & Marigold Flowers over final dip Japanese Indigo (2 skeins), Japanese Indigo 3rd vat (1 skein), Japanese Indigo third vat over Dahlia Flowers (1 skein).

Recycled yarn from thrift store. Left to right: Japanese Indigo 1st vat, Japanese Indigo 3rd vat, Dahlia Flowers, Peppergrass whole plant, Eucalyptus Leaves.

Millspun Merino left to right: Japanese Indigo 1st vat, Dahlia & Marigold Flowers, Dahlia Flowers, Perrergrass whole plant.

Indigo Works! From plant to yarn.

2009-09-05T14:03:00.000-07:00

Continuing Japanese Indigo Dyeing

2009-09-05T11:19:00.000-07:00

After heating in canning pot to 160˚F and then steeping overnight. It got late so I let it sit overnight.

Inside the jar.

The squeezed leaves. These get saved to boil and make a golden brown dye.

In the vat. I used washing soda as the alkali and then beat it with an electric mixer for about 5 minutes. Then added color remover as the reducing agent. Now it is waiting for an hour while slowly heating up to 100˚- 120˚F. I also have a small batch in a yogurt maker to try the yeast fermentation method of reduction.

Japanese Indigo

2009-09-04T18:27:00.000-07:00

I picked two gallons of leaves. Here they are on the porch heating up on a hotplate in 1/2 gallon canning jars. The one in the middle is a quart jar.

These are the yarns to be dyed soaking. Most of these are commercial, but there is one small skein of Mohair I spun and a sample of Corriedale.

2009-08-26T20:17:00.000-07:00

Eucalyptus Leaves

Peppergrass: Lepidium sativum

First Harvest

2009-08-25T21:02:00.000-07:00

I am not very happy with my first dyeing project using plants I grew. This is Peppergrass - Lepidium sativum - on some wool. While it is a bit more yellow than this photo shows, the color is not very exciting.

2009-07-06T23:18:00.001-07:00

2009-07-05T22:41:00.000-07:00

Making the Beds

2009-06-15T22:52:00.000-07:00

Getting the garden beds ready for Japanese Indigo (blue), Peppergrass (yellow), Madder (red), and Flax. The Madder hasn't germinated yet; the Japanese Indigo is about 1/4" high in pots. The Peppergrass I'm going to sow directly into the bed once it's ready.

Finished Shetland Yarn

2009-06-15T22:29:00.000-07:00

Here is 60 yards of the white Shetland that started out as raw fleece I purchased.

Katahdin -- My first really local fleece

2009-05-26T15:54:00.000-07:00

I've been given a sampling of this fleece to try. It is from a "hair" sheep, bred for meat and sheds it's fleece instead of needing shearing.

The side that was attached to the sheep:

The outer coat:

Washed Shetland

2009-05-26T15:48:00.001-07:00

Here is the Shetland fleece after two cold soaks and one hot with soap (Life Tree dish soap).

Combed with a flicker brush.

Yarn spun on Spindewood 1.25oz spindle.

Washing Fleece

2009-05-18T16:13:00.000-07:00

Today I'm washing 2.9 oz. of Shetland fleece. I've been reading like crazy on Ravelry and decided to do a cold water soak first. I used a plastic basket style bin inside a plastic tub outside. The fleece is weighted down with some left over tile pieces from the entryway to the house.

Spindle Fever

2009-05-18T15:49:00.000-07:00

My spinning skills have taken a dramatic leap in improvment. This is merino superwash singles.

Then I bought a new spindle and can do even more. This is merino superwash-alpaca.
This is still not local wool. That will come. I did buy some Columbia top that is from a local farm and some Shetland fleece that is not but I will be processing it.

This is the spindle; a Spindlewood 1.25oz (37g). I'm also waiting for a Bosworth 15g for very fine yarn or silk and a Bosworth 50+ gram for plying.

Today my brother-in-law brought over his brush cutter and I mowed the location for our garden beds. Next will be tilling.

spinning Progress

2009-05-08T18:59:00.000-07:00

We had one summer-like day and I got to sit outside spinning on the porch. This is the Merino superwash I bought last year before the house was finished. The spindle is as Ashford. I'm not sure if it's the 1 oz. or 3 oz. size. I'm looking at more spindles and a wheel purchase soon.

Here's the Merino plied. I wound a center-pull ball tightly so as to maintain the tension. Then I held the two ends together and wound them around the spindle shaft to start the plying.

Mohair feels different from sheep's wool; more like hair, which I guess it is.

Corriedale

Planning the dye beds

2009-04-21T16:57:00.000-07:00

Finally I'm planning the layout for my garden dye beds. I want eight 4'X8' beds with 2' pathways in between. I'll have:
Yellow Bedstraw (Galium verum) - red from the roots, 4 plants in 16 sq. ft.
Madder - red from the roots, 6 plants in 32 sq.ft.
Dahlias - orange yellows from the flowers, 8 plants in 32 sq. ft.
Weld (Reseda luteola) - yellow from the flowering tops, 32 plants in 16 sq.ft.
Yellow Cosmos - yellows from the flowers, 12 plants in 6 sq.ft.
Peppergrass/Garden Cress (Lepidium sativum) - a really clear yellow from flowers and plant, 256 plants in 64 sq.ft.
Japanese Indigo (Polygonum tinctorium) - blues from the fresh leaves, 40 plants in 64 sq.ft.

I'm also buying flax seed for two 4X8 beds.

I'm making some drawings.

April 5th Spinning

2009-04-05T22:38:00.000-07:00

Spinning every day in April.

2009-03-30T12:24:00.000-07:00

The Salish Sea is a new name to describe the inland waters and fiords from Olympia, Washington to Vancouver, B.C. and north between Vancouver Island and the mainland. The name doesn't replace all the local water names. Puget Sound, Strait of Georgia, Skagit Bay, Strait of Juan De Fuca, Bellingham Bay, and the rest would all still be used.

So for my project I'm looking for fiber farms in the areas surrounding the Salish Sea. I'll be growing some dye plants starting with some Japanese Indigo seeds I bought from a person in Port Townsend.

2009-03-30T11:38:00.000-07:00

Today I watched two new videos on spinning with a spindle by Abby's Yarns. Here is what I spun after applying what I learned. Wow! Thinner yarn and it holds together better when plyed.

Learning to Spin

2009-03-30T11:23:00.000-07:00

This is yarn I spun last year on my Ashford spindle. It's thicker than I wanted it and notice the big slub without much twist.

The roving is Corriedale I purchased in Seattle. Not from local sheep.

Here it is plyed on itself.

We passed all inspections and are moving in!

2009-02-16T19:05:00.000-08:00

House almost finished

2009-02-09T10:11:00.001-08:00

Awaiting final inspections this week.

House Progress

2008-09-04T21:35:00.001-07:00

Half the house is painted!

The Project

2008-03-11T15:34:00.001-07:00

My local yarns project is to create yarns from materials originating within 100 miles of my home. I can't really start this project until the house building is done. There are ten houses and we all work on every house. No one can move in until they are all finished. We hope this is sometime this summer.