Stop Me Before I Clap Again

I did not mean to do this. I have been swatching and thinking about a shawl for a close friend. Her office is drafty and she is chilly there just about year round. I made some lace swatches and blocked them, and I even liked one of them. Then I saw the perfect shade of Silk Garden for her. This yarn was made for her more than any other yarn that I have seen. I bought it. I knew exactly what it should be. I cast on last night:

I can just about knit this pattern in my sleep now. My fingers know what to do without looking, kind of like they know certain chord progressions and scales on just about about a molecular level. I have two more increase sections to go.  I would like to finish before I see her next weekend and I hope that I am not jinxing myself by setting a deadline.

In other news, a pair of pileated woodpeckers has been with us for weeks now, pretty much at the same time every morning. Today they were on either side of a suet feeder together and I grabbed my camera about two minutes too late – by the time I got back to the window they were in other positions. I am ready for tomorrow.

 

Walnut Dye Results

I couldn’t bring myself to dump out my large pot of walnut-y goodness until I used it all up. On Friday I dyed:

3 skeins of E.Lavold Silky Wool

1 skein of Louet Gems

1 skein of Cascade

I simmered the Cascade for about an hour, and the rest for 90 minutes. I wanted the Cascade to be a medium shade so that I could knit something interesting with all of the worsted weight. I was also hoping to somewhat control my results on the Silky Wool because I have 6 other skeins that I want to work all together.

Except for the baby alpaca, which dried quickly and has already been put away, everything else is here:

and clicking the photo will take you over to my Flickr page, which has notes over the individual skeins.

In answer to a question, my dye recipe is more or less this:

Gather walnuts, hulls and all. The outer hull, which starts out green and eventually turns dark brown, is the important part. Soak these hulls in water at least overnight, but longer is better. The first dyebath that I did with this year’s nuts soaked for a few days. This second batch soaked for 4 weeks. Dump the walnuts and their soaking water into a big pot and boil for an hour. Wait for the pot to cool and strain out the giant mess. I put a large colander in my pot and the walnuts more or less stay put, which makes straining much easier.

Wet out the wool, stick it into the pot, and simmer. Move it about the pot gently from time to time. Because it takes some time for the pot to cool, I usually end up doing the actual dyeing the next day. I don’t want to shock my wool by putting it into a hot dyebath. Sometimes I remove wool from the pot, let it cool, and then rinse. Sometimes I let the entire pot cool off before removing the wool – this results in a deeper shade.  Different types of wool and wool blends take the dye in a range of shades, and the amount of walnut material per weight of goods makes a difference too. No mordant is necessary with walnuts.

I have kept a dye notebook for two decades with fairly detailed notes and samples, but it’s okay to play and not be so obsessed. I have never seen a natural dye bath that was not lovely.  My favorite reference book for natural dyes is A Dyer’s Garden by Rita Buchanan.

Yesterday I cast off on a Clapotis, knit from Silk Garden 252. It’s all soft and drapey and will go to work with me.