Getting tired?

Of all the plant presentations I mean. I think I am…. Those “other” posts that I half promised seem to have scooted way down the to do list and my brain is running in circles.

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Phragmites australis, birch left

So luckily I’m running out of plants to try right now while it’s season to pick. Just tried a batch with Common Reed, very nice green! It’s time for birch leaves, remember that it’s easiest to strip young trees for some reason. I don’t think I’m going to this year apart from the couple of skeins I did to overdye. Goldenrod is coming in, but I think I’ll just toss some in the freezer to see how that goes.

I have weld, woad and Japanese Indigo growing in the garden, but you either have those or you don’t, so I’m in no hurry to report… Madder likewise, I have a set of experiments lined up for that with various mordants.

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weld patch – vau/farvereseda

And I think that’s it! I’m going to use some of my remaining Tagetes and Coreopsis to make watercolours, that is, if I’m not too stressed, I feel a bit fluttery inside as well as having a wedding to attend the coming week. We’re trying to get a few things tidied up around the place and I’m awaiting hay and straw for the ponies.

One of my looms is done, for my first piece I won’t be making a tapestry though, but a rug to put under my spinning wheel. Or possibly it will be a bathmat. I’ve been twisting 8 strands of cotton yarn to make something resembling rep weave (ripsmatta). Just have to find a calm spot to warp up and I’ll show you. And no, I won’t be making anything as fancy as that image, I believe you need something like an 8 shaft floor loom for that, not a navajo style frame loom.

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Spinning, I really feel I need to start spinning again, but I also have this urge to paint. So I’m holding off on both until other projects are done, so that I don’t go completely nuts and split into a million little pieces. I left some fleece soaking in a tub outside for so long it started to go green! I have no idea if I can save it or not, it is of course the best bits that I started out with.

My quick knit holey sweater really is quick, or rather it would be if I had the time to actually work on it. The yarn seems to go on and on and on, I think I’ll have half the body done when the first 2 skeins finally run out. I was worried I didn’t have enough, so that’s why I chose the large needles, but I could have probably gone with smaller. And then it would have taken a lot longer. 😉

flagAnd I painted the flagpole. Way overdue. Windshield corner where the hedge died is all done! And seems to be helping, not that it’s been very important last week with temps up to 30 C.

So, a stream of silly chitchat and various musings await – at some point. For now, I’ll go clear all my dye pots off the stove so the kitchen can look like human habitat at least for half a day.

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“Trat” i hovedet af en hestdanish

Er I ved at være trætte af mine planterapporter? Jeg er. Det blev slet ikke til at skrive om noget andet, selvom jeg har en hel håndfuld kladder og emner.

Men nu er det vist ved at være slut med sæsonbetonet farvning og planter der bare skal høstes lige NU, tagrør var det sidste i rækken. Gyldenris plukker jeg vist bare og så må årets eksperiment være, hvordan de holder sig i fryseren. Vau, Vaid og japansk indigo har I enten eller også har I ikke, de kan ikke findes i naturen, så det haster ikke. Det er en god tid at høste birkeblade, husk at det er nemmest at ribbe de unge træer. Men jeg tror jeg springer over i år, bortset fra de par fed jeg har lavet til overfarvning med blå (ok, jeg burde også have lavet et til overfarvning med krap, som jeg har linet en række eksperimenter op med til senere, den er jo tørret).

Min ene væv er færdig men jeg skal ikke væve gobelin på den i første omgang, derimod en efterligning af noget der på svensk kaldes “ripsmatta”. Hvis det skal være rigtig flot skal man vist bruge en avanceret skaftevæv, så det bliver bare noget med 8 snoede bomuldsgarner og sådan lidt kludetæppe stil. Bademåtte eller tæppe til min rok så den ikke glider.

Jeg har virkelig lyst til at både spinde og male, men jeg kan mærke stressen blafre rundt indeni, jeg afventer hø og halm til krikkerne, der er lige et bryllup i den nærmeste familie som skal overståes og 1000 ting der burde ryddes op her på matriklen og jeg kan mærke dampen allerede er begyndt at ligge på lavt niveau hos os begge. Så jeg må lige vente… Håber dog at jeg har overskud til at teste noget indkogning af tagetes til at bruge som akvarelmaling, kunne det ikke være super cool?

Men jeg har dog fået malet flagstangen for første gang i 10 år. Den knækker muligvis en dag i et stormvejr, men så tager vi den derfra. Vores plankeværk som læsted i stedet for den hæk der døde er også færdigt.

Min hurtige hullede striktrøje skrider fremad, dog ikke så hurtigt som jeg håbede men det er mest fordi jeg ikke får gjort noget ved det.

På et eller andet tidspunkt vender jeg frygtelig tilbage med mere sluddersladder. 😉

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11 thoughts on “Getting tired?

    1. Der kommer også mere – men måske i knap så hæsblæsende tempo.

      Men jeg er glad for, at der er nogen som synes om det. 🙂

  1. Oh no, definitely not tired yet. Each of your new color posts is such a treat– I’ve only stopped commenting because I know so little about this process that all I can really contribute is “Beautiful! Lovely! Vibrant!” and I feel like I’m even getting tired of seeing myself type those comments, so I’ve been enjoying the photos in an awed silence.

    1. One can never get too much praise you know. 😉

      But I think it’s good that season is coming to an end so that I can look at other colourful stuff. Such as tomatoes. I really don’t get it, they are there, but they stay green!

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