Point Reyes Camel

Today, I updated the store. I added camel/merino spinning fiber in 3 colorways: indigo, headlands, and spring chicken.

A few post backs, I started to write about a new lace ribbon scarf that I was making. Honestly, it is extremely rare that I make a pattern twice. However, when making the first scarf it dawned on me that it would make a great project for an intermediate spinning class. A couple months later, I found myself at Article Pract teaching this class. One of the goals of the class was to create a yarn that you may not have thought otherwise. Some students chose colors that they would have previously thought would not have harmonized. Others, chose fibers that they were shy of. Needless to say, the results were fantastic.

Here is where I am so far: 50 baby camel - 50 merino indigo
50 silk - 50 merino - citron
100 tussah silk - 10% chance of rain II

My inspiration when dyeing the fiber, and when choosing the color combination were influenced by this day at Point Reyes. When the wind whips around me, that fast, with so much power, I feel like it is cleaning out all of the stress and noise stuck in my bones. The wind tosses it to the sea. Then, that weight lifted out of my insides, presents room -- to create new things, to relax, to observe what is around me. Sometimes I get testy with Adrienne, she tends to take a lot of photos. However, there are times like this day at the beach, when I am so grateful for her photos. She really captured the fog, the deep, saturated, matte browns of the beach, and the crisp green and blue of the ocean. Seeing Jabbar's crisp white kurta against the beach really takes my breath away. I see it as so beautiful.

p.s. To all of you (so far) signed up for the fiber club -- I am so happy that you are exited! Thank you for all of the positive feedback. If you haven't signed up yet, come and join us, I think this is going to be a lot of fun.

It's a Blue Thing

About a week and a half ago my cell phone rang at 8am. Really the fact that it was 8 was not such a big deal because I am usually up padding around the house. The exciting clincher was that India was calling. It was my friend Jabbar. He was calling to let me know that he's coming. On July 15th. Whoa! That's soon!

One time, a seemingly long time ago, I lived in India. I was there to document nomadic camel herders embroidery and applique. I apologize if you have heard this story already. If you haven't let me know in the comments, and I will actually give you a fuller description. I really wish blogs were alive then. I would have a hell of a blog.

I first met Jabbar's father, Mohammad Husein, in the Fall of 2001. He worked as my translator in the desert. Mohammad Husein has a vast knowledge of textiles and craft in the desert. He has a particular interest in photography and bird watching. On Saturday mornings in Bhuj, there is a small flea market. Mohammad Husein would search the piles of this and that for a corner of a yellow cover, that would lead him to a National Geographic. This was a rare find and very precious. I learned from Mohammad Husein that the National Audubon Society designates days throughout the year specifically for bird watching. Teams across the world go out with a map and list, supplied by the Audubon, to document which birds are found. On our time, of 6 Indian men, Hindus, Muslims, and Jain, all over the age 0f 50, and me, one American girl, age 25, found many birds, one of my favorites was a flock of flamingos, perched on one leg in a large puddle in the middle of a salt flat. A salt flat that reached as far as the eye could see.

I love India because people love to invite you over for dinner. This is not the only reason I love it -- but one of the top 10. I began to share meals with MH's family. His wife cooks a mean fish curry. We would sit on the floor on a cloth and plate after plate of food would drift out of the kitchen. His wife, yelling in Kutchi, a language that I know not a single word, that I never eat enough. Outside, in the courtyard, there were huge pots, the size of pot that the witch in Hansel and Gretel probably had sitting next to her infamous oven. And, in those pots, were dyes. Mohammad Husein's lat name is Khatri. This is the name of the dyeing caste in Gujarat, India. In his family, there are generations of dyers. Hundreds of generations. MH, as a young man, did not have an interest in dyeing, and had the intelligence to become a banker. This was his life's work. However, his sons, decided to follow in the tradition and were out in the courtyard, 6 days a week, the propane cranked up high in 110 degree weather dyeing cotton and silk. This is how I met Jabbar, my friend who will come on the 15th.

Jabbar's specific dyeing craft is bandhani. This is a type of resist technique. Here, is a close up of his work.
Each dot of white the you see has been tied by wrapping a bit of fabric with thread. Thus, creating the resist. By tying all of these bits, you create a pattern, like you see here. And, this pattern, creates a beautiful scarf.

Next week, Jabbar and I are going to host a 2 part workshop: Bandhani and Indigo.

Here are the details:
Tuesday, July 16th 6:30-8:30
Saturday, July 26th 10-2pm
$110, includes all materials

Here's my idea. In the first class, Jabbar will demonstrate how bandhani is tied. And talk a bit about the history of how bandhani has been used in his region of India. Everyone will have their own piece of silk and thread. I thought that each of us can create our own design and pattern, and start tyeing it. Then, when we meet again, each of us will have our tied scarves ready. Together, we will create an indigo pot and dip your pieces.

I know economic times for some may be tight, please do not let money stand in the way of your participation. I am happy to try to make accommodations where ever possible. Also, if you would like to come only to the first part to meet Jabbar, and to learn about his textiles, you are welcome.

I am happy to answer any further questions. Please email me through the AVFKW website if you are interested.

Stitches West 2008 & Article Pract

All of the yarn is packed, all the fiber bundled, the t-shirts rolled, the spindles priced, the business cards cut, the list could go on but I am sure you get the point.

I am sitting in bed eating a toasted peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Genuine comfort food. I fought long and hard to sit in my bed today. Kind of sort of blowing off the world (at least for an hour, maybe two). F-you world! Just kiddin. You are going to have to forgive my wacky mood. It's the exhaustion talking.

On Monday, I went over to Aija's and picked up Zero stitch markers. We are going to be carrying them at our Booth at Stitches. My goodness, her son is adorable. I have to admit, yesterday, I was very grumpy. I still had a mound of work in front of me, and felt like I had been climbing the mound for days on end. I took a break from work, sat at my desk, and started to go through Aija's stitch markers, looking at the stones, they are so pretty. Honestly, they made me so happy. I really needed that yesterday. I have gone through lots of ups and downs trying to start my own business, however, its interactions with people like Aija and products like Zero Stitch Markers that make it worthwhile.

When I first started building my business, I was consumed with operations and production. What types of fiber to offer, what types of yarn, what size, what price, how should my labels look, etc. There are still many of those decisions to be made, however, as my business grows and expands, I recognize that one of the most beautiful things about my business are the relationships formed through similar interests (the love of fiber!) and being granted the opportunity to work with some really amazing people.

It's an amazing feeling to see my dream become real and to watch my business become a living, breathing entity, to participate in new relationships, and to be inspired by those who I work with such as Michelle, Marlowe, Maia and Brooke of Tactile Fiber Arts and Aija of Zero Stitch Markers.

In other news, I am very excited to announce that Article Pract, my favorite yarn store is going to carry my fiber and yarn. I really can't believe it. This is has been a longtime dream of mine. Once I get back from Stitches, I will start working on their order, which means that if you live in the area, and if you should want to see my fiber and yarn in real life, you will probably by able to see it at Article Pract towards the end of March.

OK! Enough gushing and dreamy this and that. I hope everyone is doing well, working on fun projects, etc., and if you are in the area, hope to see you at Stitches!

P.S. I still can not decide what to give away as prizes for the Ravelry passport game. If you have any requests, let me know!

I knit.

On Saturday, I took the day off, hoping to take Cleo for a walk in the woods. We had grand ideas of heading north to Sonoma County. But it ended up raining, and for the Bay Area, cold. Instead, we decided to stay in the neighborhood and went to Redwood. The walk was great. It was quiet, the trees were glistening with drops and dew, their trunks covered with mossy fur. Adrienne has really been getting into mushrooming. As much as I resist a new hobby, its actually kind of fun finding little mushrooms hiding under oak leaves. Taking the time to notice the slight nuances and growth patterns means more to me than identifying them. I have been meaning to post about mushroom dyeing. Soon.

Adrienne has a friend who is pregnant, we were invited to her baby shower on Sunday. There is no way that I could allow this prime opportunity to make baby booties slip away. And, what better sense to make of Saturday's rainy afternoon.

Saartje's Booties
100% Blue-faced Leicester Handpsun
Naturally Dyed: Cosmos, Birch, Indigo, Madder, Logwood Grey

The Polwarth is here.

It's here, it's here. (squeel)

The Polwarth has arrived. Sometimes, when I can see the forest for the trees, I think it's funny what I get excited about these days. But you have to be some kind of numbed out shell of a person to not get excited about this wool. It is soft, lofty, shiny, it smells like I don't know what, but it's good. Very good. And, I am offering it to you. I carded some of it last week on my had cards. It plumped up, little pieces of wool floating, like a dandelion puffball.







I will be posting more soon to the polwarth page. I am currently dyeing polwarth top.

Feeling Red and a few other colors too.

Ah-ha! I have updated the lil' store. I thought that I would walk you through some of our new products. For those of you who love natural dyes, and are trying to learn how to do some of this yourself, I am going to categorize this by the most dominant dye used.

Madder


"Fireside"
50% Baby Camel/ 50 % Silk Tussah
Soft!


"The Finishing Touch"
50% Cashmere, 50% Silk
Very soft!


"Tangerine Dreams"
50% Silk, 50% Merino

In order to get the blend of reds, yellows, and oranges, I blended fustic and madder.


Black Blue-faced Leicester dyed with madder.
This is hands down one of my favorite fibers and one that I like to suggest to newer spinners. It has a wonderfully long staple length and is so soft. I love the rich brown color natural to the black blue-faced leicester sheep, and thought I would spice it up a bit by overdyeing it with madder.


Cochineal


"Cheri"
100% Blue-faced Leicester
Cheri main color is a subtle, yet rich coral color with little specks of grey. I created the coral color by combining quebracho yellow, wattle, and cochineal. The grey flecks were made using logwood grey.


"Polished"
100% Blue-faced Leicester
A brighter, cooler pink than Cheri. Pink is the dominant color, with flecks of purple.


100% Black Blue-faced Leicester overdyed with cochineal.

Logwood Grey

"Reyes"
100% Blue-faced Leicester
This is named after one of my favorite places, Point Reyes, a point which looks onto the Pacific Ocean about 45 minutes from my house. No matter what time of year it is, Point Reyes usually has a foggy cliff, that you can sit on and look out at the ocean. This fiber has the dark greyness of the ocean, the light greyness of the sky, and the light creamy brown color of the sand.

indigo

"The Sea Inside"
100% Blue-faced Leicester
*Ding* Contest time! Each person who can give me the name of the leading actor in The Sea Inside will be entered into a drawing. You have until 8pm pst to enter your best guess.

I will draw one name on Tuesday, January 22nd at 8:30pm. The winner will receive 2 oz of "The Sea Inside". Free.

I will give you a hint, he might have been in a movie recently where he wore a lot of black.

Well, this is where the tour ends for now. There is always more to come. Always.

Rise and Shine

Last night, in the dark, I hung a bunch of fiber that I had dyed. This morning, I went outside to check on things and this is what I found:




I especially like the single rose in our winter garden poking its head into to picture. From growing up in Minnesota, I really appreciate the presence of flowers in winter. OK, back to dyeing...

Learn Your Parts! The Spinning Wheel T-Shirt.

So, it dawned on me that I designed these great new t-shirts and forgot to tell you all about it. My best friends Anna and Forest came to visit at the end of October. We had a packed four days of debauchery. I was wining and dining like a person who has a job. Like the old days, I won't necessarily call them the good ol' days because these days are good too. But these days are definitely different. Two highlights of the weekend were eating roast chicken at Zuni (most highly recommended) and designing the spinning wheel t-shirt.

Forest is an amazing artist and printer. We really wanted to draw some kind of yarn monster, birthing itself from a spinning wheel. But decided to go with the beauty of antiquity, and use this very simple, direct design. I can't promise, but there is a good chance that there will be a yarn monster in the future.

The t-shirts are available here and here. They are organic cotton. My chose to use ink colors that are reminiscent of natural dyes colors, like madder red, indigo blue, cochineal pink, and logwood grey.









Well, I better get back to dyeing. I am hustling for Stitches. I hope you all are having a great day!

Green Day 2008: Part One

I want green. Much more green. Now, in natural dyeing, as far as I have seen from others and witnessed in my own process, greens are best accomplished by over-dyeing yellow with indigo. I will admit. I get lazy. No, not lazy, that is way too harsh. I get tired. When I grow tired, and the 2-step process lurks in the corner, the greens walk right out the door. Not anymore though. I am going to try really hard to take it slower. I will have more green this year.

Mission Green: A little peak at what we have been dyeing.

Day One. I mordanted 1000 grams of bluefaced leicester aran yarn.
Day Two. I dyed this yarn yellow with 4% fustic.
Day Three. I fired up ye olde indigo pot.


I dipped the yellow yarn.


See the beautiful green yarn? Emerald.


And, here are the samples you may remember. This fiber was dyed with flowers from our dye garden. I am so pleased with the range of greens.

Right now, as I write, there are many more greens that we dyed in my bathroom "oxygenating". In indigo dyeing, it is best to allow the indigo to sit on the fiber for as long as possible before washing. In 3 or 4 days, I will wash the indigo out. And post are more comprehensive report about the greens that we dyed and the final results.

I have been playing around with a few ideas and would love to get your feedback. This concerns mainly two programs that I would like to develop over the coming year. Now, these ideas are very rough, so play nice.

1. The Verb for Keeping Warm Natural Dye Program --

For $x, over a year's time, you would receive a sampling of natural dyes, fiber (or yarn), instructions how to use them, and be a participant in an online forum, building knowledge about natural dyes, contributing feedback and photographs of how your dyes turn out, relay your experience, etc. By the of this year, you will be a natural dye master and have a totally unique stash upon which to draw from when creating new things.

2. The Verb for Keeping Warm Fleece Program --

This is heavily inspired by my trip last Summer to the Black Sheep Gathering and the joy I have had learning about different kinds of sheep, and spinning different kinds of fleece. In this program, for $x, you would receive different types of fleece over a year's time. My idea is is to visit farms, meet the growers, and the sheep. Post interviews with the growers online. Purchase the fleece from the grower. Clean the fleeces, and pass along pieces of the fleece to you. Again, the idea would be to have an online forum to see how everyone is processing their fleece, how you are spinning it, knitting it, etc. Of course, the amount you would like to contribute to such a forum would be up to you. This program would support a wonderful connection between the growers and spinners. You will learn how to process a fleece, how to choose a fleece, etc. Moreover, you will have tried many different types of fleece, expanding your knowledge of materials.

Well, that's all I have today. I would love to hear any feedback. I would especially love it if you would be interested in participating in either of the above programs. I think they will be a lot of fun.

Tea-time: Dyeing with Flowers from Our Dye Garden

If you have been with me for the past few months, you may remember this:

Adrienne and I planted this dye garden from seed (organic) this past Summer. I harvested flowers almost every day and filled the freezer with petals and stalks. Adrienne was taking a horticulture class at the local JC. For her final project, she decided to document the dye garden, starting from the planting of the seeds, and finishing with making tea from the flowers and dyeing wool.

Wool: Bluefaced Leicester
Qty: 2 oz per dye
Mordant: 12% Alum, 6% Cream of Tartar
Dye Qty: 2oz of dried/frozen material

First, we mordanted the wool with alum and cream of tartar for one hour. We let the wool sit in the mordant over night to cool. Then, we lightly rinsed the wool in a lukewarm bath.


We made teas out of each type of plant:


(this is making me feel like Ina Garten -- and want to speak in a hushed tone -- "come and look a little closer" -- and then the camera zooms in to see what she is cooking)
1. Edible Chrysanthemum


2. Correopsis


3. Cosmos


4. Dahlia


(this is the part in the show, where I find myself starving, and for a minute I actually think about cooking something real to eat, but instead, after exhausting myself thinking about all of the steps necessary to have such a dinner, I grab a bag of potato chips and sit back on the couch, and wish that someone else, such as Ina, could cook for me)

Round 2: For this round, we took plants growing around our house.


1. Birch


2. Chestnut Hulls


3. Eucalyptus


4. Ivy (leaves and berries)


We simmered the tea for about 1+hour. Until the dahlias lost their color, and the eucalyptus nearly asphyxiated us. Turned off the heat, allowed the tea to cool a bit.



Now, it was time for dyeing, my favorite part. We took a large canning pot, and 8 wide mouthed mason jars. Filled each jar 2/3 full with tea, and then dunked a 2oz piece of bfl wool. Placed the jar in the pot, loosely capped the jars, turned the heat onto med-low, and simmered the pot's contents for over an hour.

Our results:

From left to right: ivy, eucalyptus, dahlia, cosmos, correopsis, chrysanthemum, chestnut hulls, birch (when taking this photograph, I was having a momentary lapse of dyslexia). A lot of yellow, eh? I suppose it is amazing how many different shades and tones of a single color the human eye can see.

Next project: Over-dying with indigo. I will bring more green into my collection!

Natural Dyes: Stocking the Verb Store

Hello! I have been working away on the Fall 2007 color palette. Here, is a sneak peak.



The line-up from left to right:
1. madder, cutch, cochineal, and fustic
2. fustic and logwood grey
3. cutch, logwood grey, cochineal, and an iron dip

Check back for more to come. Tomorrow, we are going to heat up the indigo pot.

I can not believe the impact my mini-vacation to the River had on me. It's amazing what a little time away does. I feel completely invigorated.

Last night was my last spinning class at Deep Color Studio, my teacher Claudia is retiring. On one hand it is sad, i have spent alot of time there and Claudia taught me to spin, which obviously has changed my life. On the other hand, I am always interested to see what may rise in its place. Maybe we'll have to start a spinning studio in Oakland.... hmmmmm.

Back to work! I have not knit a single stitch today!

Today's Verbs: Weaving and Growing Dye Plants

I am sssooo happy. My dye garden is really taking off. Finally, we are seeing our first cosmos, dahlias, and chrysanthemums. Now, we are only waiting on the correopsis.


All three types of flowers will yield a range of yellows, oranges, and rusts depending upon the mordanting process. We plan on experimenting quite a bit, so, hopefully, we will end up with samples reflecting this range.

Otherwise, Adrienne and I began our weaving project. Adrienne works at the SFMOMA and they have an employee art show, so, we decided to a collaboration. She names the project "Tilth" which means healthy soil -- something Adrienne is rather obsessive about. We are planning on using a bunch of Habu that I picked up at Stitches 2005. And, we are going to drop spin some of the Shetland guard hairs from our fleeces that we bought at the BSG. Stay tuned! We plan to incorporate a little knitting -- to add a 3D feel.

Here's Adrienne hard at work!

Jabbar and Bandhani Awake My Intuitive Creative Process.

Wow, it has been way to long to go without blogging. It has been a big week. The house's exterior is finally done being painted. My grandfather's brain surgery went well -- and I had a very special guest this week.

My very good friend, Jabbar. He is a master bandhani dyer from Gujarat, India.

I was lucky enough to have gorgeous silk scarves strewn around my house!


About Jabbar's work: He and his family do a form of resist dyeing called Bandhani, also known as tie-and-dye. They use natural and acid dyes. Each dot you see here is made by tying a very small bunch of silk with thread. When the fabric is dyed, that little tied part does not take the dye. After the dye has set, we pull the scarf and all of the thread pops off and the design appears.


When I lived in India, Jabbar and his family took very good care of me and I consider them to be my second family. It has been five years since I have seen them. And this is Jabbar's first trip to the U.S. I can describe this trip emotional at best. It brought up alot of feelings about my time in India, and alot of feelings about the fact that I have not returned to see my loved ones in India. I have been literally aching to write about textiles and India lately and seeing Jabbar really sealed the deal. I am thinking about creating a series on my blog dedicated to textiles: history, cultural meaning, and technique.

I decided that I really needed to take the day (and maybe week) off. I really want to make art this week and focus upon my surroundings. Today, we went to Bolinas to Agate Beach.

bsolutely beautiful. To look at the tide pools.

I am always amazed how much color is packed into these small microcosms. Inside the purple shells, live little blue crabs.

Otherwise, on the home front, I have washed more fleece. argh. but beautiful....


And here are the spun samples, knit up into cable swatches. They are a little hard to see....


And last but not least, I spun a little yarn tonight, inspired by my day at Agate Beach. All of the fleece used was natural dyed indigo, cochineal, and madder.

I love using my intuitive sense to create -- and can easily get bogged down by practicality, structure, and theory. This week I am devoting to the intuitive creative process -- creating from and trusting my gut feeling. I can't wait to see what I will make!

Natural Dyes: A Whole Array of Colors

I was in a natural dye workshop all weekend and it was fabulous. I have to admit I was dreading it a little bit at first. Every weekend in May and June has been booked with activites and I was really wanting a weekend that was all mine. BUT this was much better than anything I could have done left to my own devices.

We dyed madder, logwood grey, fustic, indigo (both Japanese and Guatemalan), and cochineal. From these dyes, we were able to get the entire spectrum of the color wheel.

In the past, I have always been obsessed with indigo. This was before I had ever dyed with cochineal bugs. I am now in love with cochineal. Most of my dyed fiber is sitting in a garbage bag, wet, and ageing for the week. However, I do have three pieces of fiber to show you:

The red: cochineal
The orange: a mixture of madder, cochineal, and fustic
The yellow: madder

In a week of so, after I wash out the rest of my fiber, I will post photos of the rest of my work.

God, give me another set of hands please! Interweave Knits Summer 2007

It was gloomy and cold this morning. Adrienne, Cleo, and I decided to take a car ride over to Marin to Dharma Trading Co.. They are a great dyeing resource. Plus, their is an awesome Peurto Rican restaurant in San Rafael named Sol Food. At Dharma Trading, I picked up the Interweave Knits Summer 2007. I have to say its a pretty good issue. My only regret is that I am inspired but can't possibly start another project right now. AN extra set of hands would be prefect right about now. Instead of knitting, I thought that I'd use my inspiration to at least write about them. I want to make the Notre Dame de Grace. Oh, it look sso cozy. Motorcycle Chica Gloves -- hot! Garter Stitch Pup for Miss Cleo. And, Boot Socks. So if anyone out there is knitting these things, let me know. I would love to live vicariously through you!

Needless to say, the sun came out. It was nice and hot so we took a long hike in Woodacre. Knitting -- sunny hikes -- knitting -- sunny hikes -- how can one decide?

Natural Dyes: Madder, Logwood, and Black Walnut

We have just completed another round of dyeing and the fiber is hanging on the drying line. I feel satisfied. And looking forward to spinning some of it.

We made stock of:
madder
logwood (labeled as grey but I suspect it is purple)
balck walnut
and mixtures of all 3.

We also tried three different dyeing techniques: dunking, marbled, and hand painted.

Photos coming soon.

busy, busy, busy! dye garden, alvaros sweater

busy!

I am so excited it is May and that summer is right around the corner.

This week, I worked hard on my soon to be dye garden. We tilled the soil and sowed the seeds -- cosmos, dahlias, correopsis, maroon correopsis, and chrysanthemum. My urban garden is sweet -- but small. . . I am running low on room.

There are three of us who share this space. Because our house is small, we want this little garden space to function as so many things. . . parking for our bikes, meditation, bar-b-ques, organic dyeing resource, organic food source, and there are probably more things that I am missing -- oh, yeah, the miniature dye studio is back there too! It is very clear that the space is pretty much full but I can not stop myself from thinking "hmmm, where could I fit indigo or madder?"

Garden photos coming soon.

Other than that, I have been working on the Alvaros sweater slowly but surely. I am on round 3 in the sweater pattern. Every time I think that I am going and things are going well and that oh, this is not hard, no problem. Something crops up. A lost stitch. I read the pattern wrong. I was cross eyed for a moment. Sometimes I just trick myself into thinking something is wrong when it really isn't. I would take a photo of it except you might ask yourself if I really have done anything at all -- like I said the progress is slow but constant. I hope that in two weeks I will have made enough to take a photo and post it. That's a good goal.

I'd like to introduce you to my spinning wheel.

This is my Schacht double treadle spinning wheel (double drive) and my little dachshund Cleo. I loooove them both. I started spinning about a year and a half ago and it has changed my life. It takes the creative process way beyond finding a pattern and knitting it. By spinning, you now have control over the type of fiber you knit with and a greater range of color.



Here is a sampling of handspun yarns I have made. Most of it is merino. The blue is an indigo dyed blend of tussah/ merino.


And then there are hand carders and the wonderful art of hand-blending fibers and colors.
The brown ball is natural color polworth hand carded from the fleece for a scarf. And the colorful knit sample represents work from a color carding class.


Last summer, I learned to spin cotton. The carmel color on the left of the sample is grown naturally in this color. It was fabulous to work with. This is when I acquired my high speed bobbin and learned how to treadle really fast. A must to spin cotton.


Along with trying to explore new knitting techniques, I have also dedicated time to explore color. These are some of the samples I have made... what do you think?

Natural Dyes: Our First Attempt Is Successful!

Well, we are happy to report that our yarn came out beautifully. The array of color we obtained is amazing. I really did not expect to get this many colors from three dyes.

Starting from the left, we have 2 skeins dyed with madder. The orange color was obtained by mixing a 1/2 tsp of cream of tartar with the madder. The next two skeins were dyed with onion skins. We think that the use of red onion skins created more of a chartreuse color. The dark blue grey skeins were made with the logwood grey and the last purple skein was made by mixing madder and logwood grey. We put a paste mixture of 1/2 tsp of logwood grey in the bottom of the jar, put the wool in, and placed a paste mixture of 1/2 tsp of madder on top of the wool.


Next, I am going to create a dye notebook, start recording and analyzing our results. And of course, plan our next dyeing adventure.