Stitch Rabbit

More From The Dye Pot

 

I'm in love with this process! Using metres at a time, I've been dyeing cotton with different plants and flowers and getting really satisfying results.

I moved all my dyeing equipment from a big tupperware container into a cabinet in the kitchen, though I am looking forward to the redo of the shop in the yard... I have big dreams for a dyeing and gardening studio back there... in the meantime, this should suffice.

 

 

My most recent shades, using walnut husks, cutch, plum tree bark and iron and alum.

 

Progress and Sunshine

 

Litt bits of encouragement in the form of finished fences and boxes, and plenty of worms.

 

Satisfaction and reward comes in the form of a cold beer and garden catalogues, and a hot, hot bath every single night. Planning out my seeds and spaces for the coming spring. Dreaming of all the green.

 

 

Sneaking In A Little Sewing

 

While it's been all work and (mostly) no play, I have managed to sneak in a tiny bit of sewing.. I finished off another denim mat for the house. Just in time too, with all the mud being tracked in. This mat was re-purposed with some of our oldest work jeans, so I didn't feel badly that it was muddied in a matter of minutes.

 

I also found a bit of time the other night to dip a skein or two into a pot of plant dye. This skein was dyed with avocado skins and iron, and left for a very short time in the pot to keep it light.   So fun!

The Garden Project.

 

It's the kind of thing that could make me panic, but we've gone into it headfirst and have hardly looked up from our shovels.

We're completely reworking our yard. Front and back. Ripping out old boxes and beds, moving entire gardens from back to front and front to back, digging up and relocating perennials, building fences and transforming our outdoor space completely.

I want a garden space that is much more usable, and can hold a lot more. Along with our seasonal vegetables and fruits I am in need of even more space to coax new plants out of the ground all in the name of natural dyeing.

It's been a very hard-working week. Everything is covered in mud, the kids, the dog, the house. The laundry, the house chores, the knitting, the sewing... everything else is being (almost) completely ignored in a quest for a more workable garden.

The kids are in heaven, of course, filthy and happy. Outdoors from sun up to sun down, rain or shine, sharing sandwiches outside and barely making it through a nightly scrub down before crashing in their beds, dirt still under their fingernails, with me not far behind.

Everywhere signs of spring are showing as we unearth bulbs and new beginnings.

 

It's been a very, very long week. And the very best start to spring.

 

 

 

 

 

Busy Hands.

 

 

Using plant dyes from the garden and the grocery store, with some help with a few mordants, both alum and iron, I've been playing alchemist this week to a variety of cottons and linens, as well as wool. Using a wonderful book called "Eco Color" by India Flint as a guide, as well as key tips and pointers from experienced friends, I've come up with some awesome shades that I'm very pleased with. I started cutting for a quilt this morning.