as I said we had visitors = not much time left for textiles. but I did start on toe-up socks (Laidman's changeling in schoppel zauberball "berry") before they arrived - to show how to knit them for the sock knitting demo at the museum in castlebar. I managed the foot part, but knitting the cables while playing cards (ok, during the breaks, when others shuffled the cards:)) wouldn't have worked, so I finally started this dishcloth.
the rows start with only 20 stitches, perfect, if you have to put your knitting away after a minute or so:)) I actually managed 1 1/2 of them - which proves that we played cards a lot!
my acid green spring leaves scarf gained a few rows as well - but there will be a few more tv evenings left before it is finished. spinning was in short supply - one morning I dragged the Louet out into the sunshine, together with the big bag of Akita Chiengora - only to rush inside 5 minutes later, when a hefty shower came down:((
I did however finally take the pix of my not too successful attempt at irish solar dyeing. here they come:
the upper photo shows all of the results. the middle shows the stronger purple (no surprise as it was a gaywool dye, not a natural one), but the added red dahlia left nice orange-yellow blobs in it. and the photo at the bottom shows the different yellows with fireweed and galium flowers - and the much stronger dahlia yellow/orange again. on the whole the colours aren't bad, though I had to help them along with heating them up on the range. I should have put the jars out during the sunny few weeks we had - I know, mea culpa. but I think solar dyeing works better in wamer climates:))
I also should have known better than to put brazilwood directly onto fibres - I'll have a hell of a job to pick the leftovers out, even though I already shook/picked out as much as I could after drying. some dyes didn't really show up at all: the (too old?) dried walnut hulls and the lovely "black" violets among them. well, another year, another try maybe?
for now I am back to "normal" dyeing: the rhamnus berries are ripening and I am going to pick the black ones for my first dyebath - on silk, where they give very lovely blue tones....
5 comments:
Hallo Bettina,
so richtig warm geworden bin ich mit der Solarfärbung auch nicht. Aber wenn ich sehe, was Kirsten für Farben erzielt hat . . .
Vielen Dank für deine Infos bezüglich der Dahlienfärbung. Ich werde mich auch mal nach Pompondahlien umschauen, vielleicht tauscht mein Gartennachbar eine Knolle mit mir, er hat schöne orange Pompondahlien.
Viele Grüße
Sabine
tja, wenn ich ja mal frueher losgelegt haette! wir hatten einige recht warme wochen.... aber generell sinds hier selten mehr als um die 20 grad oder so, ich denke, da reicht die sonnenkraft einfach nicht:(( es ist aber auch nicht sooo schlimm, weil der ofen zum heizen sowieso an ist und ich beim "nachhelfen" dann keine extra energie verbrauche. Kirstens farben waren wirklich schoen - vor allem ihre stickseiden jetzt:)) du kannst deinem nachbarn ja eine orange muetze versprechen, wenn er dir eine gute knolle abgibt:))
The purple sock is beautiful but I can see it wouldn't work for a mindless knit! Great variation of the pinwheel dishcloth-very pretty! Where did you find the pattern1
Interesting experiment with your solar dyeing- how long had they been out?
Helen, I had them out for three weeks - it just wasn't warm enough at the time:(( well, at least it's a bit more than "champagne" (though a lot might be due to the additional heat!) :))
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