Yarn Bin week 1

150g soft and fuzzy alpaca and wool blends

Yarn Bin

The yarn bin
Ever so slightly, the bane of my life.. Full of bits and pieces, odds and ends - all too good to throw away and in desperate need of being turning onto something. Something other than a slightly tangled heap that inspires glances of pity from other, better organised knitters.

Some years ago, I tried a Year of Yarn project, to try to get on top of my overwhelming yarn habit. It rather fell by the wayside, as I'd underestimated how much time would be taken up with a new business, a new baby and trying to prop up a flood-damaged house.

This time round, it's the slightly less catchy 6 Months of Yarn. 6 months (ish) till Candlemas. 4kg of yarn bits.

Got to be do-able, right?

Dyers Chamomile

The last week of hot weather has brought the plants on a treat. I was a little worried if they were going to survive, having been flooded 5 times over the winter, but it seems they are made of tough stuff and have come back bigger and better than before.

I love this plant. Even if I wasn't hooked on all things dyeing, I'd probably grow it for itself alone. Delicate, soft grey-green foliage, tall strong stems topped with amazing cartwheels of brilliant yellow. The plant itself isn't that elegant - a bit straggly, tall and leggy. If you don't have a dedicated bed for dye plants it might be worth growing it through something leafy. I'm tempted to move a plant or two to the front garden - to have it rambling through our reddish purple sumac might be quite something!

So, the plant, Anthemis tinctoria. Long known as a dye-plant- hence it's scientific name. As a rule of thumb, if a species is called tinctoria, it's going to dye things. The 'how' and 'what colour' is another matter, but dye it will.
These plants I raised from seed. Sown in seed trays in the spring with no protection (it's do or die for seedlings round here, only the strong survive!) they quickly form little rosettes of frondy grey-green leaves on a tough white, scaly root. When big enough to handle comfortably (about 5-8 cms across) plant out at about 30cms apart. They wilt. Almost immediately, they will flop and you will think you've killed them. Fear not! Keep them well watered for a week or so and they will quickly perk up and grow away fast. It is native to the Mediterranean and it's fine, slightly downy leaves are a protection against too much water loss in it's typical dry habitat. So is the wilting.

It's a tough plant. Though it's distribution and form should mean it prefers dryish soils, I've grown it well on everything from pure clay to sand. And while it is in a light sandy soil at the moment, I can't really say it's in a dry position, what with the Amber coming out of her banks to play each winter. Still, the plants have taken no harm and have been bursting with colour for the last few days.

The flowers are now drying, flat on a board and out of direct sun. They are best used fresh but I've used several years old dried ones in the past. The colour is a little paler and it takes a little longer for the dye bath to develop, but they still work perfectly well. As you might expect, they give a lovely warm yellow on wool - a clear sunshiny colour. On cotton it is paler, but still beautiful.

I thin, weather permitting, it's going to be a great crop this year. Plenty for me, plenty for sale. And next year, with luck and the co-operation of the Amber, there should be new young plants from cuttings

The View Through The Window

Clay Day

One small problem with the new set-up is that I can't just disappear down the pottery shed or the potting shed whenever I feel like it. On the other hand, not being here all the time, does impose (a small amount of) discipline, and Wednesday's have been declared Clay Day. Doesn't always work - weather, plants and The Boss's unexpectedness sometimes get in the way, but when it does work, it works well.



I've been playing a lot with a bunch of Indian wooden printing black I picked up. They work beautifully on clay and I get to do a lot of detailed bits with coloured stains. I usually end up with cramp in my back and a dead arm at the end of it, but generally, I think it's worth it!

These pieces were designed as brooches and pendants, but I've got a few ideas, using the same technique for hanging ornaments, like my birdies

So, today, I shall be in my wonderful new shed - which doesn't look anything like this anymore! - up to my elbows in mud and colour

String Theory

Well, I am well and truly moved, settled in and starting to find a routine. rather strange after 10 years of working on whatever the weather dictated I could, but now I have set hours, set times and the very faint hint of organisation.
 I no longer post at weekends, so Monday is a big packing day. Which means Tuesday is restocking day. Today was down for refilling the linen drawer

and as winding string onto card is slooooow, it became a thinking day too.

First thought - and it is a fairly frequent one for me - was I need more colours. So far I have some marbled, some natural shades and a few pastels and a few brights. But it seems my supplier has some new shades in, gorgeous darks and brights and so, soon, shall I.

The next thought centered around "what to do with...?"

Moving the studio brought to light all sorts of bits and pieces, including these little boxes. I've been using them for packaging the Embroidery bags but there are still rather a lot.

Handily, they hold 6 wooden spools of linen!

Coming soon to Paperspill in assorted mixes of colours. And yes, you can pick your own :-)

Naturally Dyed

I have been using the excuse of waking up the textiles shop to fill as a reason for indulging my love of dyeing with plants. I grow a fair few of them myself and as such, it's a bit of a slow process, waiting for things to be big enough and (this year particularly) waiting for things to flower.

There are a number of plants that I don't (or can't grow) so for now, I've been playing with those. And I have been dyeing pretty much everything I can get my hands on

There are embroidery threads:

calico:

wool:

and a whole stack of mixed threads for embroidery and textile art: