Can’t keep up with the weeds but it has been impossible to not stop and smell the roses…
Tag: flowers
Glimpses of Dogwood
Most Definitely Spring!
Pear tree at sunrise
Pear blossoms
Crabapple blossoms
Blueberry bush blooming
‘Sarvis’ tree blooming (Serviceberry)
Signs of Spring
We anxiously wait each year for this – coltsfoot blooming by the roadside. This is the first wildflower that appears in our neck of the woods. It is a very welcome sight at the end of what is almost always a long winter.
Another sure fire sign of spring is that our stylish barn footwear has gone from this
to this!
Nothing brightens the day quite like a pair of yellow ladybug boots!
A Productive Dyeing Day
We began the day by preparing a Marigold Dyebath, breaking up a large amount of dried stems, leaves, and flowers in the dyepot and simmering for an hour.
From this stinky ugly brown concoction, we got some very lovely yellow hanks of yarn
and the next day a more golden/tan color on some locks of wool from our Coopworth cross ram lamb, Goliath.
While the marigolds were beginning their magic, we used our canned hibiscus liquid to begin dyeing another hank. This yarn is still soaking for a couple of days.
We also did some rainbow dyeing of yarn and mixed lamb locks. First, using turquoise, purple and periwinkle.
And then using emerald (brightened with some yellow), pink and turquoise.
Using up our left over emerald, we rainbow dyed some additional locks.
Woo Hoo!! We feel like we accomplished a lot!
Hibiscus Flowers
We have been picking hibiscus blooms almost every day from our 4 new little plants. After about 2 weeks of gathering and storing in the refrigerator, we get enough to simmer to make a tea for dyeing wool yarn.
The pretty petals look kinda sad after the pigment is simmered out.
We are hoping that sealing it in canning jars will keep it fresh until we accumulate enough to do some dyeing, and are looking forward to using our own natural dyes.
Keep watching for bee-yoo-ti-ful dyed yarns pictures!