Those acorns!!

I’m not seeing any acorn reports people!
Walk in the forest today, there are also no chestnuts this year and hardly any of the Alder catkins I wanted to dye with. I guess those have to be scheduled for 2013…

Rowan – sorbus aucuparia

This was just a small experiment since my rowan trees on the property are rather measly. And the ones along the main road are too tall for me to reach…. So I just did my usual simmer-soak-simmer-soak 2-day routine to get it out of my hair, like. I threw in a couple of berries because, well, they fell into my sack. Alum/CoT mordant on wool yarn.

Birch left, Rowan right, in my usual Sumak drying tree

I forgot to weigh the leaves…..

One of my books suggests it’s a good base under madder and indigo, another that it gives a brownish yellow. (brown in my head not being great under blue? I could of course be wrong)

The colour did turn out to be a different yellow than birch leaves (more on those in the near future), so quite ok as experiments go. Whether the berries had an influence? Well, it’s always fun to have more mysteries waiting out there.

≈ Leave a Comment

Rønnebær og -blade


Det skulle lige prøves, ingen forventninger andet end “gul”. Men det kan jo bruges til overfarvning. xx g blade (og et par klaser bær fordi de sad der) til 30 g garn, alun/vinsten bejset.

Den gule farve er i øvrigt, mod min forventning, anderledes end den gule fra birkeblade, så det var alligevel ikke et helt tosset eksperiment. Om det er de få bær som har give en lidt varmere tone er svært at vide, det må jeg teste en anden dag. Men det er da en udmærket måde at få variation.

Vidste du, at man kan kommentere min blog uden at være wordpress medlem? Bare udfyld navn er nok. Det er så hyggeligt med dialog fremfor monolog!

No acorns?

I was planning on dyeing with acorns this fall, we have a big old oak tree on one side of the property. I know it’s way too early to harvest, but as I was walking by the other day I was expecting to be able to see them at least.

  • That’s not too early, is it?
  • Is this a Danish, European, worldwide 2012 phenomenon or just my neck of the woods? Seems that none of the rowan trees in the area are showing much in the berry department either, now that I come to think of it, regardless of variety.
  • So those of you with oak trees around – take a walk and send me a report! Pls and thanku.

I did however on the same walk discover that one of our wild patches suddenly sports quite a few St. John’s Wort. Nearly all finished by now of course, but maybe they’ll come back now that they seem to have established themselves? Just have to keep hubby from mowing at the wrong time of year…

≈ Leave a Comment

Hvor er mine agern?

Jeg havde planer om at farve med agern i Ã¥r – eller hvis det ikke rigtig gav farve, bruge det som bund for noget andet med garvesyren i garnet/stoffet. Men jeg kan slet ikke SE nogen agern i Ã¥r pÃ¥ vores gamle egetræ?! Jeg ved godt det er for tidligt at høste dem, men de burde da sidde pÃ¥ og være grønne?

Så jeg kunne rigtig godt tænke mig at lave en rundspørge, sende jer alle på vandretur til jeres lokale egetræ og melde tilbage her, om der er agern på jeres? Ikke fordi jeg vil have dem, bare for at opklare, om det er et udbredt fænomen i år.

Til gengæld har jeg i dag opdaget at der er kommet Perikum pÃ¥ engen – de fleste er afblomstret, men til gengæld hvis de sÃ¥ smider en masse frø, sÃ¥ burde jeg kunne farve til næste juli???! 😀 Min mor vil have snaps, men sÃ¥ mÃ¥ vi vel slÃ¥s om dem.

Vidste du, at man kan kommentere min blog uden at være wordpress medlem? Bare udfyld navn er nok. Det er så hyggeligt med dialog fremfor monolog!

Hackle away

Not having a drumcarder (yet) I like to blend fiber on my homemade blending hackle. I had that pink merino braid that I wasn’t going to spin myself, so I wanted to see what would happen if I combed it.

And, well, it’s now silky, smooth, spins like butter but still too pink for me, so I think I’m going to have to look for a new owner… if there are no takers I guess it will sit until I run into someone who’d love a very girly homespun present.

Continue reading “Hackle away”

Sunberry slip

In Danish, black currants are called sunberries. I wanted to match the exact colour of black currant jam for a yarn and with a bit of fiddling I think I’ve come pretty close. At least to the image in my mind, and that’s what matters, right? It actually takes a bit of skill making acid dyes (the ones I use anyway) not look so synthetic, but I’ll keep working on it.

I’m going to dye this yarn:

to knit this dress: Continue reading “Sunberry slip”