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Our Desert King fig tree is having a big year!

The Man has already made two batches of jam-

So I’m cleared to eat some fresh now. nom nom 🙂

And in woolly news, I found out at the last minute on Saturday that Flora Carlile Kovacs, a local felt artist, was giving a talk in LaConner about her process, in conjunction with her works being exhibited at the Quilt Museum, so I registered online and headed over there just after lunch.

I’d seen listings for her multi-day felt rug making workshops , and some beautiful examples of her works of that type, but wasn’t familiar with some of her other works, in which dyed silk features prominently. The silk really adds in interesting luminosity to the works that is hard to capture in photos (at least for me!)

These recent works focus a lot on creating dimensionality in the felt, both through creating scale-like folds in the embedded silk, and aligning the wool in different directions that causes the ruffling effects. Amazingly, the works are created all in one piece. the layers are formed using a plastic resist.

I was hoping to see/hear more about her process with the rugs, but her other works are a real inspiration as well. Might have to sign up for one of her workshops next time it’s offered nearby!

I’m back at it again this weekend, having mordanted some more materials for the dyebath-

These items turned out perhaps a bit less red, more rosy, but I am again really pleased with the results.

Despire the warm weather I’m making good progress on Dottie’s Freya sweater. I feel like I’m kind of finding my groove with this project, having gotten the rhythm of the cable patterns.

The lighting outside today really accentuates the texture. To my eye, in person it looks a but softer. And the feel is Dottie’s signature combination of silky and fuzzy 🙂

I’ve also been getting in some quality time with Daphne wool-

Working on a fairly high-twist two ply (spun on my spindle wheel at the higher ratio) that I’m hoping to use as warp in an upcoming weaving project. I’m imagining single-sheep fabric yardage. Maybe a twill, lightly fulled?

Out in the garden this week I harvested most of my Violeceo di Verona cabbage- I had quite a few start to bolt, or plagued by aphids, but had planted a lot of them and so still got a number of nice heads. I think maybe I planted them a bit too close, or perhaps too early in the season. Next year I might start them later so I’ll be harvesting as the weather cools. Here is the most photogenic of the crop-

We’re really enjoying this cabbage variety. It’s got a light texture that makes it really versatile. We’ve been eating it in salads, roasted, and The Man is making some kraut as well. Highly recommend!

Armed with all my recently assembled madder info, I set out Friday to give it a go.

I had assumed that the madder I had in my EarthHues natural dyeing kit from many years back was probably ground roots, and so was planning to have to go through an extraction process.

But upon closer inspection, it became clear that what I had was madder extract. So that really simplified things. I used the whole 30g that I had in the little container, but upon reflection, I probably didn’t need to. The bath was quite strong. Not quite sure of the total volume, but I filled my big pot up about 2/3, so maybe 6 gallons?

I tested the pH, and found that it was a bit acid (6.5). I wanted to increase the alkalinity and add a bunch of calcium, which supposed to boost the red pigments, so I added powdered dolomite lime.

Then I added my fibers and heated the bath to 160F. I think I left the goods in there maybe an hour- and look at these results! Glowing pink/red in the sunshine, almost burgundy on the grey felt in the front.

After washing and drying, here are the finished goods (total of 10.1 oz)

I was so surprised- it almost looks like cochineal. And the pot still has a lot of life in it.

I wanted to try something out that I’d read in the Jenny Dean book, about using the exhaust batch to produce a tangerine color on unmordanted fiber, and so added just a couple of cups of the dyebath to my rinse water to simulate a near-exhaust color density and added a little vinegar. Popped in some more fleece. Heated it up to 160 then just let it sit and cool with the fiber in it for quite a while.

It didn’t give me tangerine, but a pretty peachy pink

It might fade out, since it wasn’t mordanted. Only time will tell. But it’s lovely right now.

Also making some progress on the Dottie cable sweater- both shoulder pieces complete, and front right in progress

Feels so cushy and luxurious! I was telling Dottie about it this morning as I was checking and trimming her hooves, but she didn’t seem too interested. Maybe I’ll take it out there for her to inspect later. But I’m guessing she’d be more excited about a handful of oats 😉

Have a good week folks-

This weekend I set about sewing my Studio Tunic

This project is made entirely of stash fabric. Front is an old tablecloth, pockets are napkins, and the back is a pair of repurposed old khaki pants (plus a yoke out of some scrap blue linen).

It was fun, and I am really happy with how it turned out. Was my first experience doing facings, and was very pleased with getting a nice smooth finish around the neckline and armholes. I added a second inner pocket (because, why not?) so now I’ve got serious pocket capacity! Seed packets, phone, reading glasses, eggs- you name it! Been wearing it around today doing gardening, farm chores, and it’s so nice and comfy.

On the wool front, I’ve officially cast on for the God is a Woman cabled sweater-

Doesn’t look like much yet, but it feels like this might develop quickly. Been a while since I’ve worked cables, and am also really enjoying the feel of the Dottie singles.

And, planning has begin for the spinning guild dye day. Date is going to be Sept 19, and focus is natural dyes. I volunteered to be the lead for a madder pot, so am going to do some research and trials ahead of time so that I feel like I’ve got a handle on the standard process as well as using some modifiers (ph, iron mordant).

This selection of fibers (wool and mohair locks, felt, some yarn) is going into the Aluminum Triformate mordant bath today so it will be ready to go when I’m prepared to start experimenting.

Maybe next weekend?