oh so blue

feel like treating yourself?

shop local

Knotty by Nature is open for business

you just need to wear a mask

or phone, Ryan will put together an order and leave it on the porch

there are goodies for everyone – spinners, weavers and knitters

every colour in the rainbow

Romney fleece – it is so-o soft and crimpy – one of the first breeds I ever spun and still one of my favorites

2/8 hemp yarn, it’s expensive but a pleasure to weave and washes beautifully

some of it went into the indigo vat

and this cloud of blended Merino, purple silk and qiviut (the inner down of Arctic muskox)

last year I started an indigo fruit vat

it worked – but it was a lot of work to maintain

and required significant amounts of perfectly edible fruit, mostly flown in

which had to be cooked, using electricity

so when do you draw the line at what is good for the environment??

it overwintered inside

in May, when it warmed up, I moved it outside and attempted to activate it

I brought the pH up to 11

added cooked, strained bananas, orange peel, sweet potato and fruitcose – lots of them!

stirred it every day and talked to it – for a month

finally, as a last desperate attempt, I dumped in a significant amount of thiorea dioxide

et voila – in 24 hours – there was blue

I gathered a few leftover cones of cotton, linen and hemp

wound them into skeins and scoured them

you may wonder if scouring is necessary

this is the colour of the water after an hour

it is the oil and dirt from commercial spinning and the dye will attach to it

as the fibre is removed from the dye bath it is green

indigo reacts with the oxygen in the air and slowly turns blue

this is the strongest vat I’ve ever created, just 3 dips and  dark blue

I was hoping for a variety of shades on the bleached and natural fibres but they are all pretty much the same

that’s o.k. – I’ll take it! – it’s going to be a blue, blue summer

these fellows came to visit – eating my hosta

the neighbor was building a new fence – deer are quick to see an opportunity

I chased them out and strengthened my side of the fence – go eat somewhere else

in this city of gardeners there is plenty to eat

P.S. Catharine Ellis has just posted a much more technical blog on indigo

Indigo Dyeing During Covid-19 Isolation

she is a very reliable source of information, it is well worth a visit