Summer Yarn

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

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

High summer - finally!

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

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

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.

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

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!