Dyer's Garden Along

I dyed of natural causes!

2006-11-27T14:54:00.000-08:00

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?

2006-07-18T15:40:00.000-07:00

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

2006-07-16T11:26:00.000-07:00

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?

2006-07-15T09:04:00.000-07:00

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

2006-06-19T10:12:00.000-07:00

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

2006-06-12T11:02:00.000-07:00

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!

2006-05-15T10:59:00.000-07:00

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?

hrm

2006-04-07T19:02:00.000-07:00

Where did the member list go?

argh

Clearly, I'm no good with blogger, haha.

Anyway.

I'm working on getting the hardscape (aka stone path) situated in my garden, and hopefully my plants will get here soon! Spring is definitely in the air now, and I'm anxious to have some lovely blooms in my garden.

Seeds are up!

2006-04-03T12:53:00.000-07:00

Due to limited finances this year, the garden is starting with seeds.

DS and I spread two seed flats with seed starter and then put row after row of seeds from all the packets that say sow indoors about a week ago. I was not too optimistic, but we did it, and as I say seeds are still cheaper even if they don't germinate right?

Last night while cooling DS's hand in the water after he burned it while picking up the wrong end of a Clover mini-iron that I forgot about.... he knows about the irons, and the business end vs. the handle, but nevertheless picked up the wrong end. Of course, I am not completely blameless in all of this, since I left it out, but the point is that we had a very DRAMATIC evening. When things settled down a bit, I pulled the flats out of the garden window over the kitchen sink, one by one to examine.

First the flat with tomatoes and lavender, which are not really dye plants, but stay with me. We very carefully examined every inch to find the little seeds that could, which was fun and served as a GREAT distraction.

Then the other flat with row upon row of various plants, and imagine our surprise to find that almost every row had green fuzz running up and down. That was good for another 10 minutes of distraction from the burn, with both of us examining our seedlings, and noticing that the foxglove seedlings had some of them brought the seed hull up with them, and the idiosyncracies of the rest. We also made a point to run a gentle finger up and down the fuzzy green rows to show the little seedlings how much we love them.

And this morning, DS's hand is looking pretty good. No blistering yet, thank goodness.

note to members + update

2006-03-08T17:54:00.000-08:00

Hi all,
Just wanted to request that if you know how to, please put a link to your personal blog under the "members' blogs" column if you want it listed. If you're not sure how to do it but want it listed, just tell me (and make sure I have your blog address!) and I'll list it for you.

Sorry for not updating- I've been mucho busy lately.

The grass is greening here, we've begun working the soil, and we're starting seeds tomorrow! We also have ordered some perennials from BlueStonePerrennials. The selections for my garden include Becky Shasta Daisies, Tinkerbelle Shasta Daisies (who can resist them when they have such a name?!), carnival hollyhocks, blue butterfly delphinium, and, if I remember rightly, 2 different blue veronicas. But they might be salvias- I can't remember! This is my color scheme this year:

click here for picture

The color wheel slides at left are from Deb Menz' ColorWorks book. I figured if it works for textiles, what the hey- it should work for a garden!

-Sarah

Preparations for sowing seeds outside

2006-02-21T12:37:00.000-08:00

Greetings all! My name is Kelley and I am in No Cal. I am a bit of a lazy gardener and have somewhat blown my budget for the year on yarn....meaning that I have to start with seeds. The lazy comes in with not wanting to start indoors, but then the risk is somewhat less here, where I get tomatoes from May to October/November, depending on when I plant.

Here in No Cal, we have already started spring, my narcissus and croci are up, and I have already put in some seeds in front. I miscalculated as we did have a frost since I put those seeds in, so who knows if they will start or not. Hard to tell.

Anyway, I spent some money on seeds online and got a whole box of them. If it makes color, it is probably in my box. All of them are going to go into the northern exposure of the yard, where the previous owners left three raised beds full of sand. So I plan to turn it, amend it with soil on top and try seeds there, including both dyers and veggie garden. In addition, DS will be helping us to put the seeds in. How can you go wrong with digging and throwing things into the ground with a 5 year old boy who bounces off the walls before eating sugar?!?!

Starting Seeds

2006-02-16T10:05:00.000-08:00

Hi all! It's been quite a while since I've used Blogger... so pardon any errors please :)

We're starting seeds this week, we usually start on Feb 14, but that didn't work out this year. What is everyone planning to plant? I always do marigolds for companion planting and pest control, and I did make a great yellow dye that seems to have held up (the wool is still vibrantly yellow). I'm really new to dyeing and such, so the marigold is really all I've ever done. What other plants would be good for a beginner?

important note

2006-02-10T10:43:00.000-08:00

I need to have your email address to be able to sign you up to post on this blog- you can email me at:
hobbitknitter88 at yahoo dot com
with subject line "greenthumbs2greenyarn signup"
and then I'll send you an invite.

Thanks!

purpose of this site

2006-01-21T17:38:00.000-08:00

A few year's ago, I hosted a Dyer's Garden Along on my personal knit blog. It was very successful and fun for all members, and this year I decided to kick it up a notch with a blog for all members to post pictures of their gardens, flowers, and dyed stuffs, as well as advice and questions on. I would also like to welcome those attempting to grow cotton and/or flax (linen) to this group. We'd love to hear how all these fiberarts oriented gardens grow!

I'm starting this group early this year, so we all can research the plants and plan out our gardens. I'd love for our members to post pictures of the flowers they plan on using, as well as any plans they draw up.

Natural Dyeing is the art of using plant materials to dye fibers in beautiful natural shades. It really is an art, some plants being extremely difficult to obtain good results from. For the beginning dyer, I recommend starting with marigolds- they're both easy to grow and always yield beautiful deep golds.

100% wool I dyed with marigold flowers in 2004

Here is a list of books to get you started on natural dyeing. Be sure to check out the links at left as well!

http://interweave.com/spin/books/dyers_garden.asp

http://interweave.com/spin/books/Indigo.asp

http://thewoolery.com/Pages/coversdye/artandcraft.html

http://thewoolery.com/Pages/coversdye/completenaturaldye.html

http://thewoolery.com/Pages/coversdye/craftofnaturdyeing.html

http://thewoolery.com/Pages/coversdye/naturaldyeinstrb.html

http://thewoolery.com/Pages/coversdye/naturaldyes.html

http://thewoolery.com/Pages/coversdye/navajoandhopi.html

http://thewoolery.com/Pages/coversdye/weaversgarden.html

http://thewoolery.com/Pages/coversdye/wildcolor.html

Hope you'll join us!

er

2006-01-21T14:47:00.000-08:00

testing. I have no idea how blogger works.