We Have Fairy Gardens!

 We have had rain almost every day for about two weeks.  We needed it and are happy for it...though I do have to say that today I left the house when it was cloudy and by the time I got to my destination more than 30 minutes away I had been through two very scary deluges!  I do not enjoy driving or riding in the rain. AT ALL!

This morning when we woke up I took these pictures of what I have heard described as Fairy Gardens.  They really are beautiful.

These mushrooms came up in two days and are just outside our garage.  I do love them.  I intended to harvest them for solar dyeing wool fiber to see what color we could get. BUT the day got ahead of me.  Hopefully tomorrow.

As you can see, these came up by the birdfeeder.  There are also some plants...probably sunflowers...that are growing up where seeds were dropped.  I think we will let them grow a bit before cutting them. 

These mushrooms are a different variety of mushrooms.  Last year or the year before I did some mushroom dyeing with orange-y mushrooms and got a lovely yellow fiber. I hope I can repeat that.  I just have to find the directions again!

My hope is that the mushrooms will still be in good shape tomorrow when I have time to harvest them and turn them into dye.  I picked some last week and almost immediately they turned into a horrifying moldy mess.  I hope I can help the basket recuperate!

Since I am mentally into solar dyeing I am hoping someone has a lot of weedy goldenrod they would like someone to take away.  I would do it!  I really love the beautiful yellow goldenrod produces.  You should try it yourself!

Solar Dyeing Experiments Starting!

 One night I was up knitting and happened to see a solar dyeing video.  Then another and another.  I decided it was time to try it, since I have planned to do it for ages.

On the left is hibiscus tea bags which I think will give a really deep pink since the water is already pink after one hour!  The middle jar is avocado pits and peels.  The one on the right is red onion skins.  I am looking forward to seeing how they do.  I will need to wait 3 or more weeks. I can be that patient.  I think!  I put 11, 12, and 13 grams of unnamed wool fiber into the jars.  The thought was that once they are dyed I can spin them into striped yarn.  Of course, it will be a very short strand of yarn but it will make me happy.

Now I need to check them every Saturday, open the jar, add in more water if needed, then close up the jar again. I am hoping for no mold problems...

On the topic of natural dyeing...the lichen a dear friend gave me is now being "processed"...which means I have started removing the lichen from the sticks she picked up from her lawn after a wind storm.  I am thinking now that there may be plenty of lichen to do the "real lichen dye" process, ie filling a glass jar full of lichen, filling it half full with water then another half full of ammonia and letting it sit 3-6 months.  That means I should have purple dye this fall!  I really look forward to that.  This time I won't bring the dye bath to a boil...only a simmer.  The last time that heat killed the color.  So sad.

PS. I guess I should have completely removed the labels from the jars.  It has rained a good deal the last two days so perhaps tomorrow I will see if the rain has affected the labels to make them easier to remove then remove them.  Does anyone have any suggestions about how to completely remove labels?  Many thanks.

First Solar Dyeing Project!

 Just finished, more or less, the first solar dyeing I have done!  I am thrilled.  I skeined up a ball of Patons Classic Wool and tied it in four places.  In a quart Ball jar with lid I placed one cup tap water and 1 Tablespoon of vinegar and stirred well. Next I added four or five drops of blue gel food coloring and stirred well.

Adding about half of the damp yarn I dropped on four drops of yellow food color then four drops of red food color then shoved in the last of the yarn.

After carefully filling the jar with water I put on the cover then shook the jar to make sure there was water everywhere.

Next step was to put the jar on the back deck railing in the sun for three days.  I brought it in every night so it would not chill down too much.  Heat is a big part of solar dyeing. I am thinking this summer will be a great time to solar dye!!!

This morning I emptied the jar in the sink and found that the dye bath was entirely clear! That is good news. I then washed the yarn and hung it to dry.   

Here the yarn has just been rinsed.

The yarn is hanging to dry.

I will be happy to see what happens when I knit it into something.  I wonder what I should knit...any ideas?