Plant Fiber dreams

I have been working to clear out my "back forty." Which is really a couple thousand square feet which I also refer to as "the lower meadow." This has been hard physical labor to clear out the years of weeds, vines, brambles and and garbage from the neighbors.

I've been pushing myself hard to plow through it. And I'm still trying to figure out how to actually till it when I get it to that point. In the mean time, I've been using hand saws, blades, scythe, mower and pure frustrated strength to pull, hack and chop my way through.

The other night after work, I was out there again with the mower running over some areas that is mainly dead creeping vines. I kept thinking of the flax and cotton I would plant. The area where I would plant my dye garden and the area that will get the medicinal plants. Echinacea, Valerian, etc.. I was very caught up in my plant and fiber dreams. I was suddenly wrenched from ideal thoughts by a huge BOOM!!!!

Uh-Oh. I went in to my standard process for when things like this happening. I don't even need to think about it anymore. 1. Jump back as far as possible while letting go off all equipment. (when in doubt, let it out) 2. watch for fire, sparks and smoke 3. asses if equipment is posessed and will continue on it's merry way unmanned. 4. slowly approach like you would a wounded tiger 5. poke with foot. I don't know why, but this always seems smart to do. 6. All Clear is given 7. truly see what the damage is.

In this case, the vines had completely grown over a soccer ball many years ago. The mower had just popped it.

I think it's time to call it a day. The fiber dreams will be there tomorrow.

Snowed in!

So, 3 feet of snow. Time to play with some fleece. I wanted to dye a little bit in various colors to try my hand at felting. So how do you dye in small batches with out being wasteful and in many colors at once?

You can it. Just like jam.

I used food coloring and then did a little test with various acids to see how it would turn out.



I wet the fleece and twisted it into "hanks." I filled the jar 1/2 way with water and dye solution and gently lowered the fleece into the jar. I then added water covering the fleece. I but on the lid and tilted the jar so that the dye and water would mix. Do not shake! Once I had all the jars filled, I put them in a water bath as though I was canning tomatoes.



I put on the lid and let it sit at a low simmer for about 45 minutes. I then let them cool in the water bath, and then removed them to the counter to continue to cool to a warm temp. I then gently opened each jar, pouring out the contents (one at a time) and giving them a gentle rinse in a bowl of warm water. Then into the salad spinner with each. I then let them dry on a rack. Once they were mostly dry, I un-twisted the hank and spread them out to complete the drying.



Which gave me little bits or roving in multiple colors. I thought it was a simple way to dye and fun.