Warning- there are lots 'o photos coming in this post!  I had a great opportunity to take a natural dye workshop taught right in my own community backyard.  I have known of this fiber studio called Hillcreek Fiber Studio for a while but until I started falling down the natural dye fiber path I had not explored it too much.  I had been thinking of reaching out to the owner when I ran into her at a fiber swap and we were talking about natural dyeing and she mentioned there might be some upcoming opportunities to join in.






I jumped at the opportunity!  I took a couple days off from work and joined a couple of women that drove down from Michigan and spent 2 glorious days working with natural dyes.  The first day we de-stemmed berries, gathered dye plants from pastures and meadows, and dyed up plants.  We strained the plant material and then divided up our dye baths for each of the mordanted fiber bundles. One bundle was alum mordant and the other was chrome.  The material that we used was wool potholder loops.  Let me tell you, I fell in love with potholders all over again!  I have not made one since the boys were little and to make naturally dyed wool loops- I was in heaven!



At the end of the first day we had our piles of dyed loops out on screens to set overnight.  The next morning we starting getting our after baths ready and basically had 3 mineral/metal salt baths for each mordanted bundle to see how the metal/mineral salts affected the color.









It was amazing to see the differences and how you can modify the colors.  We were also able to play with some indigo and saxon blue.  By the end of the second day and the workshop we had samples from all of the colors.  We had about 80 some different colors from 10 or 11 plants.  We then were able to keep some of the loops to make some potholders with.


I cannot rave enough about the experience.  I learned so much about the plants, mordants, modifiers and their reaction with the wool.  The setting was also a great experience.  To be at a working fiber studio out in the country and be fed delicious food, (mmm the pawpaws!) was a treat to my soul!







I was so inspired I bought a pound of the wool loops to practice some of the techniques at home.  So a little bit of a spoiler in case my family and friends are reading, natural dyed wool potholders will be big on the holiday giving this year!  So far I have done a small batch of onion skin and did one more exhaust from a bottle of avocado dye that I had.  Last night I harvested my marigolds last night and cooked a dye bath to use this weekend and have a freezer full of dye plants ready for me including goldenrod, pokeberry, elderberry, walnut, and more avocado.  I also splurged on getting some dry madder root and more osage orange.


I hope you enjoy the pictures and please check out Hillcreek Fiber Studio, Carol Leigh has written a book with a workshop approach that I highly recommend.  I am so glad to have made this connection in my community.

This knitting received its "pink slip" a couple weeks ago!  I finished up my #naturaldyekal and am looking forward to some transition weather days to start wearing it!  This was made from the yarn I received in a fiber swap; a wool, alpaca, linen blend fingering weight yarn that I dyed with avocado stones and skins.




I had picked out a pattern that I thought lent itself to the delicate nature of the yarn and was pretty pleased with how it came out.  The pattern is called "Dangling Conversation"  I have plenty of yarn left but and not sure yet what else I am going to make with it.  I think it would look fund in a stripped pattern with some walnut dyed yarn!


I made the small version in the pattern and really liked the simple stockinette broke up by the eyelet ridges that get closer together towards the bind off edge.  I learned how to do a purl front and back increase and the stretchy bind off.

I had discovered the #naturaldyekal from a podcast that I have been really enjoying by A Wooden Nest- check it out!  

Mushrooms, fungi, toadstools- no matter what you call them I love them!  Though saying toadstool is pretty fun!  I find them to be magical part of the woods.  Sometimes they blend in with the forest floor and sometimes their colors just pop against the moss and dirt!




As far as eating goes, they are one of my top 5 favorite foods.  I really miss my chanterelle patch that we had in our backyard that unfortunately our chickens destroyed a few years ago.  I love portabellos,  plain old button mushrooms, shiitakes are super yummy, and the rare treat of a morel- oh my!




It is not uncommon to find them in some of my home decor.  I love some of the vintage pieces I can find from the 60's and 70's!




They often show up in my toy making as well.  I usually make them fairly stylized with simple dots and colors but recently I provided one of my mushroom identification sets to Jen of Simply On Eden and it got me thinking about some woodland mushrooms I made a while back and I was inspired to make some more.

I made a mini mycologist set this past week and just listed it in the shop.  The wool bag is made from Brooklyn Tweed America Wool line- Shelter in the bale color way.  This also includes a little moleskine lined journal for note keeping!  I hope it inspires you to take a hike and look at the magic all around us!  Have a great weekend!

shew . . . Nakia's scarf is finally off the needles!  I started this on spring break at the end of March and riding on the wave of excitement from this beautiful knit item from the Black Panther movie.  I used the pattern more as an outline and did a variety of knitting patterns throughout the scarf/shawl with the 4 different yarns.



As I mentioned in other posts the yarns were mostly the same.  The color was slightly different in the Noro Silk Garden yarn.  I really went pretty free flow on each section and did not quite get the 80 inches of length.  I think part of this was that I had a few more stitches in width and I opted to only do one skein of the Plaid Blanket yarn.  But since I am only 5'2'' the length seems just right.


I thought I would show up close of each section.  Starting with the Noro Silk Garden in color way 417, I did a basic stockinette with a twist and a eustonian button stitch before the next section.  I used one whole skein.



Next section was in the Malabrigo Mechita in the Hojos color way.  For this section I did stockinette along with weaving in some pieces of Noro Silk Garden.  I used a small part of the skein with the yarn held double.



I worked into Madelinetosh Merino Light in Plaid Blanket color way.  For this section I did a stockinette with random eyelets.  I used not quite half of the skein with the yarn held double.



From here I moved into Madelinetosh Dandelion in the Shire color way.  I used the whole skein on this section with the yarn held double.  I did a variety of garter and stockinette ridges with and eyelet ridge thrown in.



The next section was two skeins of Noro Silk Garden in the color way 417 and I did a reverse stockinette with cables.  My math was a little off so my cables were ever so slightly off on the right hand side.



Next I moved back into the Madelinetosh Merino and did another combination of stockinette, eyelets, and single garter ridges in a slightly different pattern.  I finished the rest of the skein held double.



I finished up the Malabrigo Mechita in a basketweave stitch pattern, (this was my favorite section) and I really liked the contrast of this section.



Last I ended with one last skein of the Noro Silk Garden in garter stitch.




And that my friend was it- almost 70 inches unblocked.  I wove in the ends and did a slight twist before seaming the ends together.  I then tried it on in several different ways and I love it!  I am tucking this one away for those colder days at the end of the year!  Now I am casting on a quick drop stitch shawl in the avocado pink yarn I just dyed!  Cheers to finished objects!