Blue footed booby

And finally, my first real indigo bath, and I am thrilled...it was so exciting. I had done this before but with a friends dyepot and so now I too, have my own pot of indigo. I loved the process although my feet are a little speckled with blue dots. Lesson one, don't wear sandals or bare feet, very drippy. Also I need a better system for putting them in the vat and turning them, it was quite a mess and also wondered if the pooling on the bottom of the skeins would make a difference.
I shall see tomorrow as I am to wait 24 hours to rinse. I did bfl, silk and merino, silk and cashmere and some mohair, like 500 grams, and still the bath was working. I am very thrilled. I ordered the real East Indian indigo, and it was a fine powder, and I did the quick fermentation method so I could do this in one day.
All of this was fun, and I will be doing it again really soon. Like tomorrow.


This is the 500 grams of Mohair which I put in the bath last, thinking I had almost exhausted it so I was quite thrilled I got such a lovely blue, but the final telling will be after I rinse it tomorrow...Now to figure out easier methods of handling the skeins and hanging them, and what to do to the not yet exhausted bath...can I extend it or what....very exciting and wonderful to watch the oxidation...I love indigo so now I think everything I do will be with this color, and it looks great as an undercolor for other natural dyes....and no mordant necessary on the wool as it is substantive dye...yes, I do love not having to mordant. I am too lazy.

Elizabeth Zimmerman rocks

Here is the Baby Surprise Jacket..amazing piece of mind invented this...Elizabeth Zimmerman says she was on vacation when she worked this out...I haven't been on one of those types of vacation where your mind is making ingenious patterns and calling that a vacation...I want one though..
Putting this together was fun, and giving it to others as a flat piece and getting them to work it out was fun to watch...Now I will trim it around the neck and maybe down the front with the lighter color ..

turkey tails tell all

Trametes versicolor, but will they give color, that is what I am trying to find out..sure are attractive and plentiful right now. I have chopped some up and they are soaking and then I will cook them up and see what happens..I have just finished a baby surprise jacket pattern by Elizabeth Zimmerman, and have yet to sew it up, but then will have show and tell...it was a treat to make, but only had cashmere silk on hand in balls so made it with that...so no drooling on this sweater, and think it might be for the second coming, as your average child would definitely puke on it and then have to be hand washed...
Have some instant Indigo crystals a year or so old, and have tried to dye with them, maybe they worked but did lose a lot of color in the rinsing..will have to try and save the bath tomorrow, with the Rit dye remover and see if I can get it working better. May try some real indigo instead..but want to do indigo with the mushroom dyeing as they are so complimentary. What I love is that all things natural go so well together. ah Mother Nature....