I dyed of natural causes!

I did some dyeing this weekend, but I was more pleased with the boughten dyestuffs than the grown ones.

Read about it on my blog Ceallach Knits

And of course, I am planning next year's garden already, which will include indigo, woad and weld, as well as some other plants not included in my garden this year.

Ceallach, how does your garden grow?

My garden which got in late, has a lot of things in it....unfortunately, the dyeing part is not so great, but the veggies are going great!

My tomatoes have flowers and one has clusters of fruit. My zuchini has flowers and some fruit, the cucumbers have flowers, as do the peppers and watermelon.

But the most amazing part is the amaranth.....Unfortunately I don't have photos, but it is dark red with the youngest part of the leaf this amazing bright red.....I hope it will make nice dyes!

general blog update

I've added links to all the member's blogs to the sidebar. If anyone has some links they'd like added to our resources, please leave the URL here and I'll add them (apparently only "blog moderators" have access to template changes).

Also, members with blogs- please link to our page with one of our buttons, so the word spreads around and we (hopefully) get more members!

Thanks- looking forward to hearing how everyone's gardens are coming along!

-Sarah

Anyone started dyeing yet?

I'm getting close to putting my first dyepots of the season on! I started collecting marigold and rose mallow blossoms this week. The marigolds of course, will make a beautiful gold dye, and the rose mallows should make a deep red, if all goes well! I'm really excited.

I also might try dyeing with grass cuttings- should be able to get a good green out of that! Might not be so good for allergies, though. ;-)

-Sarah

Dyeing with fruit

Upon reading Jenny Dean's Wild Color, I discovered that one can actually dye with Peach and Plum trees. And naturally, since my peach and plum trees had a large amount of low-hanging or sucker-ous branches, I tried it out and was not pleased with the results.

I got a couple of skeins of very pale yarn, one in an oatmeal color gotten with Alum and Tin, and one in a very pale green with Alum alone. I will post photos later, as I can't pulg the digicam into this computer, but was eager to post.

I also tried some pomegranate juice, which yeilded a very pale rose yarn with Alum.

So what did I learn?

1. I know NOTHING about dyeing with natural stuff and need to learn. Upon discovering this, I found a natural dyeing class at Lambtown that I may join.
2. Plum leaves smell REALLY good when simmering on the stove....like Cherries!

Oh, and while in London on business at the beginning of May, my dear husband SLAUGHTERED my BABIES....the seedlings that I had tended for weeks as prep for thie garden along.

***tearing of hair***
***gnashing of teeth***

But,well , I guess I shall forgive him. Some day.

Dyeing Seed Source

Hi everybody!

First time poster, longtime reader here...;)

I can't seem to access the template to add myself to the member's blog side or the put up a seed sources section, so I thought I'd post them here.

I bought a Natural Dyes Seed Collection from Seeds of Change and only the red amaranth came up (and one hopi black dye sunflower). But I had a very low germination rate from all of the seeds I planted into soil in those little mini-plastic greenhouses, so I doubt it was the seeds. A bummer nonetheless.



The amarinth is quite lovely when the light shines through the leaves. Mental note: take a better picture.

I've also planted a fair bit of the Dark Opal Basil in peat discs and those did quite well and have survived the transplanting. I bought Bronze Fennel from a local nursery (I really like the stuff you can dye with AND eat) but everything will have to get much MUCH bigger before I can harvest anything for dyeing.

The other source I found (through Farmgirl Fare's sidebar) is Pinetree Garden Seeds which has indigo and woad, weld and various other dyestuff seeds (look under herbs and not just under their dyeplant subsection) with quite nice prices. If you cruise through Farmgirl's sidebar there are other seed places with dyeplants, but this was my favorite.

Gardening is pretty new to me. Luckily, I live in San Diego and the climate is pretty forgiving--as long as I water...not too much, not too little...

Did anyone do any sort of garden plan á la Buchanan? I'd love to see piccies.

Sorry About That!

Sorry I posted somethings intended for another blog. I am only beginning to learn how to manipulate this blog website.

For my garden post: My tomato seedlings were killed off a couple of weedks ago in an overnight frost. A pity. I finally sprouted some heirloom tomatoes. I would have liked to have tasted them.

So now I am going to have to go to the nursery and buy tomato plants. Sigh.

By the way, I read somewhere that tomatoes, or the plant, or leaves perhaps, can be used to dye things. Anyone heard anyything about this? Mordant needed?