Butterflies & Moths

Took the family down to New York City this past weekend and had a whole lot of kid fun.  First stop was the actual subway.  My 9 year old leaned over and wispered - "Why is nobody talking?"  I had to explain that they didn't know each other and they were just traveling to go to work.  ;)

Got off at The Natural Museum of History.  Gorgeous butterfly display as well as bones, animals, artwork - it is a great museum.  Then we walked the 40 odd blocks over to F.A.O. Schwarz.  The next day was Time Square and all that glitz of M&M's and ToysRUs.  I do think one of the best parts was then going into Chinatown for lunch.  Great people, fun to see the different types of stores - dried/salted foods.  Two days and the boys wanted to do more, luckily we had great weather as well.  I love traveling with the family.

Bartlettyarns

Wonderful Company - great yarn for Waldorf classes, very willing to work with a large order or small.  They are working on a website, but if you are close to Harmony, Maine - it will be worth the trip.

Summer Dyeing

I was commissioned to plant dye some yarn for The Green Meadow Waldorf School this summer.  Chris is the co-director of Fiber Craft Studio and one of my teachers for my Waldorf training.  We emailed back and forth about the colors the school needed, but I was given artistic license to trust the colors that came out of the dye pots.  

The strength of color was at its best, left over dye pots were used to dye some lighter shades, but most were left to soak in the pot for a longer time or multiple dips to acquire the darker shade. So many people associate pale colors with plant dyeing, or colors that fade.  If done properly colors will not fade (as I do with Cream of Tartar & Alum) or with use of strong pots (if that is your color taste), you will be left with some amazing colors to play with.

 I obtained the different yellows thru willow tree tips (a creamy yellow) Osage Orange and also, onion skins.  The pinks and the darker pink/red was strictly cochineal mixed with cream of tartar (that brings out the reds).  Purples are made with Indigo over cochineal and then the green are Indigo over the different yellows a mentioned above.  Browns were made by a cold bath of black walnuts as well as a hot bath of the same (yes, you get different colors hot vs. cold).  The sheet of paper I used to figure out the colors and over dyeing looked like a tennis match tournament and I was surprise when it was all done correctly.

All in all I was please and so were the handwork teachers, lots of love & long hours but worth it in the end.

Rainbow of Plant Dyed Yarns - ©Ithaca Waldorf Handworks & More

Fall colors

Such gorgeous colors this year.

This is one of my favorites that I took this year.

This little button buck (I think) has been hanging around out back yard for a few days.  He is hungry and very curious - however very wary of me as he should be.  It would be nice to see him mature.  I also saw a red fox yesterday being chased by a few crows - quite comical.  

Pokeweed Plant Dyeing

 Pokeweed bush/plant is a wonderful color of dye to experiment with.  It gives the color you would expect with wonderful twists.  Some say its not lightfast and should not be used but I have recently read in Harvesting Color by Rebecca Burgess to try a recipe using Vinegar as a mordant and not Alum (as I have found out you only get non-lightfast tan if you use Alum and Cream of tartar).  Prepare your fiber by soaking it in a heated pot of water with a cup of vinegar - to reach Ph balance of 3.  

You only use the berries and be prepared to have pink fingers if you do not use gloves. 

 Pick all the berried off the stem and mush them in your fingers or use a potato masher.  Add a gallon or two of water and 1/2 cup of vinegar to each gallon you use.   

The pot needs to be heated gently  - Do Not Boil -  or else you will only get tan.

 I soaked the wool roving in the dye pot for a few hours and then let it drain into the pot as it dried.  The liquid can be used for all sorts of shades of pinks/purples.

 Then I rinsed the roving after a few hours of resting.  It then turned more purple than pink after the rinsing.  This color just blew me away.

The pinker roving was from a different pokeweed bush so as in all plant dyeing it will depend on where you get the plant and what kind of season the plant had.  Now is the time to harvest - if the birds haven't beaten you too it.  Its all a wonderful gift.  Hopefully with time I can see that it is as lightfast.

Summer Fun

I had a great summer - painted at The Grand Canyon.

Dyed yarn in Mesa Verde & Yellowstone National Parks

and so much more...  It was a Great summer.

Simply Yellow

Symphony in Yellow
By Oscar Wilde
1854.10.16-1900.11.30

An omnibus across the bridge
Crawls like a yellow butterfly
And, here and there, a passer-by
Shows like a little restless midge.

Big barges full of yellow hay
Are moored against the shadowy wharf,
And, like a yellow silken scarf,
The thick fog hangs along the quay.

The yellow leaves begin to fade
And flutter from the Temple elms,
And at my feet the pale green Thames
Lies like a rod of rippled jade.

Peanut Butter Oat Cookies

What better way to combine all three of my favorite flavors into one: Peanut butter, Dk. Chocolate and Oats.

...with the help of a new addition to the kitchen (cookie scoop - think Martha Stewart) this tool makes the cookies look incredible and you are not fighting with two spoons. All the cookies are the same size, round, & incredible. Sometimes it take me a bit to come around. Such simple pleasures, right?

The flavor is great, not to mention the smell of my house, and is a firm cookies with crisp edges and soft middle.

14 TBS of butter (receipt called for a full cup but I cut out 2 TBS)

1 Cup of peanut butter

2 Cups packed brown sugar

1 tsp Baking Soda

1 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Salt ( I like salt in my cookies sometimes I use a whole tsp )

2 Eggs

2 tsp Vanilla

2 1/4 Cup Flour

1 Cup Regular Oats

1 Cup of Quick Oats

1 Cup (or what ever is left in your bag after eating lots off them) Dark Chocolate Chips preferably the San Francisco brand below. Hershey is nice but really folks if you are going to each chocolate - eat the good stuff.

Literally go down the list as your beat them in a mixing bowl - the more you fluff or blend the butter/peanut butter the better!

Oven at 350˚ now this says for 10-12 minutes but mine always take 15-17 minutes and then they are perfect golden brown.

Here is the peanut butter I use - highly recommend it!

On a side note my oldest made these really fun mini scenes. First one is an earthquake and the second one is Pompeii.

I entered a contest

I entered a contest with one of my images and would love it if you would go check it out and vote for me thru your Facebook or Twitter (you don't have to be "friends" with me to vote):

www.talenthouse.com

Its for the song:

Florence and The Machine - Only If For A Night

You can see all the entries here:

All Applicants:

My Music Recommendations

I love Lisa Hannigan and she has a new album out:

This is Evan McHugh and I am just discovering him. You can sign up for a free album here if you want. http://noisetrade.com/evanmchugh highly recomend it.

Snow Patrol is about to release their 6th album 'Fallen Empires' in the UK and I think the release date for America is in January. It's a wonderful album and you can hear some of it here.

Marigolds

So, I picked the last of my marigolds today - the weather is just right for this time of year and I almost think its still October with its bright blue sky, crisp mornings & sunny days. The birds are scurrying around the bird feeders and the squirrels are burying nuts in the garden soil (which I will have to dig out later in the spring when they don't find them all). I might have to go around and see if I can pick the last of the goldenrod today - it was a very bad year for this flower, wonder if it had anything to do with all the wet weather we had in early Fall? Most of the leaves are down and I can just feel everything starting to shut down for the winter. I will be happy with my spinning wheel and wool that I got at the festival and will hunker down myself.

Wonderful Sheep

Great animals and you can tell the owners really care for them. Such beautiful animals that give us wool so generously.

Rhinebeck Wool Festival 2011

As my pots of wool sit and simmer in alum/CoT I would love to show you more of the images I took at Rhinebeck.

This woman & her colors in particular has caught my eye for years now but I only just looked her up. She hails from Maine and uses sea water & the sun for dyeing and the colors are spectacular - www.getwool.com - I would love to dye with sea water but the only natural water I have access to is stream and lake water, which I will never take for granted.

There were many natural dyers at the festival and I was thrilled to see all of them. I replenished my stock of Osage Orange and Alkanet & white wool. The white wool would seem boring to some but I can see its potential and I cant wait to get started.

On Saturday it was a madhouse - Filenes Basement Sale (which I have been to in Boston long ago) has nothing on women who love wool. As I saw civilized women being gracious but also have the wild look in their eyes and had to giggle. I knew from experience to just look on Saturday and I dare not even bring my camera out. I did snatch up a few goodies but I saved most of my buying and close browsing for Sunday. The weather held out for the most part - with a wild shower that lasted only 20 minutes on Sunday that had people running for the tents. Luckily I was already in one and stayed dry the whole time. It was cool enough to ware all our hand made wool sweaters and wraps and we all complimented ourselves with smiles and quick hellos. I always have grand ideas of selling there but I never have the quantities needed to handle that much traffic. Some day I might take the chance?