It was nice to be invited back to talk about natural dyes again. This time I focused on blues made with black beans, showing off the lovely fleece I wrote in an earlier post. I also discussed dyeing with black walnuts, since they are all over the ground now! It’s a wonderful time of year to gather a potful and simmer them. Not only do you get some lovely free brown dye, but the kitchen and house smells wonderful- if you like fresh earthy nutty smells.
The folks there asked lots of good questions, like how to make gradients (I could discuss that one) and how do the size of alpaca microns affect the absorption of dye (I didn’t know the answer to that one.)
The alpaca guild is also the group that hosts the Maryland Alpaca Festival. This link brings you information on the guild as well as the Festival. Located at the Howard County Fairgrounds, it’s on November 12 and 13.
http://www.marylandalpacas.org/
I’ll be there again this year, with my gradient and solid yarns, along with some interesting multi-colored yarns. A new pattern too. Hope to see you!
As far as my sweater vest goes, I was able to get the pockets sewn up, the shoulder seams sewn, and the hood started. I’m half way through that, knitting while taking my mom to her doctors and procedures at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore yesterday. (She IS a little better by the way!) My new goal with the vest is to finish the hood by Sunday night, and pick up the stitches for the arm hole edges. I can knit all the edges on this vest while reading t
o Bethany over the next weeks….yes home school is starting again on Monday!! Bethany is 15 now and we have dozens of wonderful novels to read together this year.
By the way, that last photo does show the color better than the other pictures. It is a pretty shade of grey, with blue edges.
Hope you all are enjoying the last of these hot summer days. Do you like it when school starts up or not?