Maia Spins

Dyeing with Rhubarb Root

Winter Wild Crafted dyeing usually means playing with dried materials gathered in warmer months. I recently pulled out some chopped and dried rhubarb root. Rhubarb root can be dug and divided in early spring. Click here for information on dividing and cultivating rhubarb. Below is a picture of ne of my rhubarb plants that is overdue for division. It is hard to see in this picture, but there are at least 10 stems. You can click on the picture to see it larger. Root that isn't replanted can be chopped for dyeing. Use it fresh or dry it and saved it in a cool dark spot for later use.

I soaked the dried root for a day, overnight is fine. Use plenty of water. I find it can be hard to get good extraction in a small amount of water. Bring it up to a simmer and cook for an hour or so. I drain the liquid and pour it through a coffee filter. I use a reuseable gold filter. The chopstick is for stirring so it keeps flowing. I do not use this for coffee however. Once something becomes a dyeing tool it stays away from food forever.

The extract is then placed in a larger pot with mordanted yarn and brought to a simmer. I hold it at a simmer for at least 30 minutes.

This time I did something I don't usually do. I tossed some yarn in with the drained rhubarb root and some fresh water. I got good color but the bits of root were hard to get out of the yarn. The bits were like clingy little bits of spongy cork. I won't do that again!

The fun comes after dyeing! Rhubarb root is a dye that is sensitive to ph shifts. A high ph will move it from a warm yellow tan to an orangey tan. Long exposure to a high ph will harshen wool so I decided to wait until after the yarn was dyed. The easiest way to raise ph is with ammonia. I can't tell you how much as I use a high strength ammonia and check the ph of the bath. I was looking for a ph of about 10. Soak the yarn in the ammonia solution for 5-15 minutes or until the color shift is complete.

Can you see the bits that are still yellow and haven't shifted to the orangey color yet?

The picture below shows the "corky" yarn with and without the ammonia after dip.

The extract dyed yarns came out lighter. I had no idea how strong the extract was. Next time I'll use a stronger concentration.

Left to right Temecula Sock, Sierra Sock, and Larkspur Lace without the ammonia dip.

Left to right Temecula Sock, Sierra Sock, and Larkspur Lace with the ammonia dip. The difference is subtle.

Here are the yarns dyed wit the rhubarb root bits. Both are Sierra Sock, without ammonia dip on the left and with ammonia dip on the right.

All of these yarns are darker and richer in person. They were tricky to photograph.

I have just uploadeed these yarns into the Tactile online store where you can see all my Wild Crafted yarns.

 

 

Knitting With Silk Hankies

There seems to be a lot of interest in silk hankies lately. I have been asked many people at recent events how to knit or spin from them, so I thought a blog post might be helpful.

What is a silk hankie and how are they different from silk caps?

The only difference between a silk hankie and a silk cap is the shape. Both are formed by stretching the fiber from a single silk cocoon into a thin sheet. Multiple sheets are built up. A hankie (also known as a mawata) is shaped over a frame (think of a small picture frame) with nails at each corner. The cocoon is pulled into a square shape and held in place by putting the corners of the sheet over the nails. A silk cap is similar except it is formed over a bell shape. Wormspit has a great tutorial on how to make your own mawatas.

That is a cap on the left with the dome folded over (it was rather tall) and a hankie on the right.

To knit with either one, the first step is to separate one layer (one cocoon's worth) of the hankie or cap. You will see a thickness at the edge of each layer. Grab that bit and pull a layer off of the stack. It should look very thin and lacy; you will be able to see through it without any trouble.

If it looks thicker than this, you may have two or more layers. Try to find a single edge a separate it. If you can't, don't worry. It will still work, just be harder to draft apart.

To knit with this hankie we need to make it into yarn. The easiest way to do this is to put your fingers in the middle, make a hole, and pull it into a ring.

Start somewhere in the middle of the hankie. It doesn't have to be the exact middle.

Put your fingers in the hole and stretch it bigger.

And bigger.

Eventually you will need to stretch it in segments. If it won't draft (a spinning term meaning the fibers are sliding past each other), move your hands further apart. Remember, this starts as a single cocoon that was once one continuous strand of silk. Stretching the cocoon did cause this strand to break a bit, but the individual segments of silk strands are still quite long.

When it reaches the desired thickness, pull it apart so instead of a big loop you have a length of "yarn". You are now ready to start knitting. What is the desired thickness? Anything between chunky and dk weight will work. If it is too thin, it will continue to draft as you are knitting and may come apart. How thick or thin will you want it to be? Experiment.

To join a new hankie simply lay the tapered end of the hankie you are finishing with the tapered end of your new hankie. I like to overlap them by 4-6 inches.

You can see that I pinched together the tip of the new hankie with the old hankie. They will stick together, though sometimes want a bit of encouragement.

Here is a diagonal scarf taking shape. If you look closely, you can see the join between the red and yellow hankies. If you don't like the look of the overlapped colors, try making a join similar to a Russin join.

Overlap the ends and turn each color back towards itself.

No need to use a needle to weave the ends in. The fibers will happily stick to each other.

Want naturally dyed hankies to play with? We have some in the Tactile online store.

In my next post I will talk more about knitting with caps and hankies and how to spin from a hankie. Until then, check out the podcast I did with Natalie of Cloudy with a Chance of Fiber where we talk about playing with hankies. 

New Yarns

I have a couple of new (or newish) yarns that I haven't told you about yet.

Blue faced Leicester Fingering. A tightly twisted 3-ply yarn that blooms beautifully when washed and wears very well. It is ideal for socks though I am making my 4th shawl with it. You can get some of the semi-solids at Knit Purl in Portland.

The other yarn is Baby Alpaca-Silk Lace (70/30). So unbelievably soft and luscious I can't sttop touching it.

I will have both yarns and more at Sock Summit and then in the online store next month.

Gotta go! I need to finish packing so I can leave first thing tomorrow morning for Portland. Sock Summit here I come!

 

Wild Crafted

Picture heavy post ahead.

Recently, I got a copy of India Flint's book Eco Colour. It is a wonderful and very inspirational book about surface design using things from nature. Being from Australia, she uses a lot of Eucalyptus. We have a lot of Eucalyptus in California. It is not native here, but it thrives here. So I said to myself "self, go get some eucalyptus and see what it'll do". And, so I did.

I came home with lots to play with.*

Horsetail, a strange and prehistoric plant. It contains a lot of silica and doesn't break down when it is simmered to extract the dye. Quite odd really. I used everything I harvested. Pulled it apart some and just covered with water.

 

 

 

 

 

Queen Anne's Lace, a close relative of the carrot. Carrot tops can also be used as a natural dyestuff. I used the smaller stems, leaves, and flowers. Again simmered in a pot with enough water to cover all of the plant matter.

 

 

And, of course eucalyptus. I gathered fresh leaves, windfall leaves, and windfall bark. I have no idea which species of eucalyptus is is; there are over 700 species. It has long grayish green leaves like so many of them. The windfall leaves turn brown and sometimes reddish brown. The bark peels off of the trunk in long curled ribbons like huge cinnamon sticks. I kept and processed each of the three types of eucalyptus separately.

 Fresh eucalyptus leaves, chopped and sitting in a pot of water. I let them sit overnight and "think". I love the reflection of me taking a picture in the surface of the water. Makes me feel so artsy-fartsy.

 

Windfall leaves, chopped up. I love the color of the reddish ones and favored those when I was gathering. I let these sit and "think" for a couple of days since they were dry.

Oh, and while gathering I recommend avoiding the poision oak. It might be wise to keep your dog out of it too. He may wander into it, because really, in his mind you are doing something insanely boring. Plus he has already snifted everything in that area and thinks you should be walking not stooping and collecting.

The eucalyptus bark I tore into bits and let it soak for a while. What is a while? A week maybe, maybe more. The woodier the dyestuff, the more it benefits from soaking. Benign neglect is the apprpriate attitude.

The bark in the jar is not cooked yet. That is the color given just from soaking for a week.

 

 

My favorite dyestuff was in my own backyard. Our plum tree is huge for a dwarf tree and was shading the neighboring trees. A bit of pruning and I had a 5-gallon pot full of leaves. I cooked these without soaking them as they were fresher than fresh.

Cooking plum leaves makes your house smell like cooked plums too. Yummy! Plus the extract keeps on giving. I dyed 3 batches, each one got a bit lighter but still a lovely clear yellow. I could have done another round, but I had enough yellow yarn by then and plenty more leaves waiting on the tree for me.

There are a couple of ways to use these extracts. For a mottled yarn, you can add the yarn to the extract with the dyestuff. Where the dyestuff touches your yarn it will impart more color. Not recommended for spinning fiber as it could be tough to get all the plant material out of the fiber.

I chose to strain out the dyestuff (used plant material can be composted or used as mulch). As a rule of thumb, use 100% WOG (weight of goods a.k.a. WOF: weight of fiber). So for a 4oz skein of yarn use 4oz of fresh plant material. For dry dyestuffs, start with 50% WOG (2oz of dyestuff for a 4oz skein).

I used alum mordanted yarns, some with cream of tartar (CoT) and some without. Cream of tartar shifts the color and I didn't know which would give me the best results. I tried each dyestuff with one test skein of each and then tried an after dip in iron. Iron also shifts color, sometimes referred to as saddening.

My test skeins:

 

From left to right (all 50% WOF unless otherwise noted): horsetail on alum, horsetail on alum & CoT with iron post dip,  Queen Anne's Lace on alum & CoT with iron post dip (misplace the one without iron), plum 100% WOF on alum with partial iron post dip, plum leaves on full skein (1st exhaust bath), eucalyptus bark on alum, eucalyptus bark on alum & CoT with iron post dip, 400% WOF eucalyptus bark on alum with partial iron post dip, dried eucalyptus leaves on alum, dried eucalyptus leaves on alum & CoT with iron post dip, fresh eucalyptus leaves on alum, and fresh eucalyptus leaves on alum & CoT with iron post dip. See how sweet the plum leaves are? It is a beautiful clear yellow. I am in love!

Note the tag. I tagged each skein with the dyestuff, WOF %, mordant, and whether it had an iron post dip.

This will help me know where to start the next time I play with these dyestuffs. Although I don't expect identical results from subsequent wild crafted dye experiments. Natural dyes can be highly variable. It depends on the time of year, the weather, the soil conditions, and the water used. Eucalyptus is so variable the sunny side of a tree can yield a different color from the shady side. That is part of the fun of natural dyes. You ever know exactly what you'll get.

My experiments were so much fun, I decided to start a line called Wild Crafted.

These yarns are some of the Wild Crafted yarns that will debut at Sock Summit. If you won't be at Sock Summit, look for them in the online store in August. What? The online store? Yes, it is making a triumphant return soon. More on that after Sock Summit.

* Always get permission from the land owner before gathering.

 

Tactile Yarns at Knit Purl

I am so thrilled to announce that Knit Purl in Portland, Oregon is now carrying my yarns. And, yes that is my yarn one the front page as a staff pick. Thank you for noticing! It has been in the works for months and I have had a very hard time keeping it under my hat. I have adored Knit Purl since my first visit in 2007. Read their announcement here, buy the yarns here. Right now they have Tussah Lace and Linen Lace. They are moving fast, so don't delay! They took some very nice pictures. Go take a look, I'll wait.

Linen is incredibly hard to dye with natural dyes. Linen is a cellulose fiber, meaning it is derived from plants. The processes for dyeing cellulose are different and tricky. I knew this before I agreed to dye it, but I didn't KNOW it. If you know what I mean. I think it took me 8 tries to get my Pomegranate colorway (a rich saturated red). It is a color similar to Turkey Red, the most difficult color in the natural dye world. It was quite a bit of work to find a process that worked for me, but so very worth it!

Speaking of Portland, I will be vending at Sock Summit later in the month. My booth is 413 near the Sock Museum. I hope to see you there!

I am feeling the Portland love!

Sammiversary

Five years ago today we brought our Sammie home from the Humane Society. He was scared, hyper, silly, and a bit stand-offish. Not at all surprising for an adult rescue dog.

He had such a sad face when we first got him.

He soon learned he was safe in our home.

That we could still snuggle even if someone had to play with stringy stuff all the time.

And that we all love him and want to play with him.

Dear Sammie,

I love how you moan when I hug you.

I love your one floppy ear.

I love how you come running just because I call your name.

I love everything about you. Thank you for brightening every day of the last five years.

So, who wants to go for a walk?

Just a Peek

I have been busy doing stuff. Namely dyeing for Sock Summit. Are you going? I am getting very excited! Tactile will be in booth 413 near the Sock Museum. Come say hi!

There has also been some knitting. An ambiguous photo of 3 shawls in the works.They are all knit in my newest yarn, a BFL fingering weight. Love it!

I have become fascinated with garter stitch lace shawls. Something of a new obsession, usually garter stitch bores me. Never say never.

I am also enjoying knitting painted colorways.

Waterlily: purple, blue, and green.

Blueberry: purple, navy, and a touch of warm gray.

Recently, I got a moleskin journal from PuNk rAwK pUrL.

It is so cute! Plus it has grid paper (plain and lined paper also available)! Mine is a cusom order. I got to pick my colors. Tammy is so talented. Check out the full-time awesomeness on her blog and in her etsy shop.

 

 

I Can Haz Canopy

As you may know I am a natural dyer, my business is Tactile (I've been told I don't mention that often enough). I dye outside which works very well most of the time. The climate here is very temporate year 'round. As, I am a pasty complexed person so I do require shade. And, as I prefer to be dry, I like a bit of rain protection too.  I have been using some form of a canopy for several years. The original was a 10 foot by 10 foot colapsible canopy. Clearly it was not made for long term use in the elements. I guess the colapsible part should have been a clue.

About a year ago I started using a car canopy frame inherited from my in-laws.  It is designed for long term use outside. What?!? Using an appropriate item the way it was intended? Yup!

When we (hubby and I) put it up, we tossed an old tarp on it just to see what size I'd need. Yes, you guessed it, it was up for 6 months. I think it is time for a new cover don't you:

Here it is now, white and bright, and designed for this use:

Just in time for some indigo dyeing! Yay! I'd love so show you what I am dyeing, but I can't quite yet.

Gratitude

In other news, May was amazingly craptastic. I'm not saying that just to whine. I have decided to look on the bright side of life. Starting today, I am tweeting about gratitude. Don't follow me on twitter? Please do. Today I am grateful for my husband. He is smart, funny, sexy, sweet, supportive, and all around wonderful. I am eternally grateful for him. Sappy, I know, but oh so true. What are you grateful for?

Special Requests

I love knitting.  It has always been my sanctuary, someplace I can slip away to one stitch at a time.  For this reason I try to stay away from obligatory knitting (read: no holiday knitting).  Nothing harshes my knitting mellow more than knitting something that doesn't inspire me and has a deadline.  I am very happy to make things for friends and family as long as I get to make it on my time schedule.  Sound selfish?  Maybe, but it keeps knitting fun for me.  Plus, I prefer to think happy loving thoughts about my loved one with every stitch rather than think about how much I would rather be knitting something else. 

Every rule has an exception.  When one's 90 year-old grandmother requests a handknit garment, it is best to get to work right away.  She saw me wearing a shawl and admired it.  It was a chilly day and we were out and about so I lent it to her for the day.  It was just the thing to keep her warm on a blustry day.

Blue is her color.  I have been lusting after some black Blue Faced Leicester I indigo dyed.  This was the perfect project.

Six ounces of black Blue Faced Leicester in the Indigo colorway yielding about 380 yards of 2-ply. I spun it modified long-draw.  The singles were about 24 wpi; the 2-ply yarn is 15 wpi before washing.  I spun the singles with moderate twist and plied with a bit more twist to make a squishy yarn. 

I love how the yarn has depth and color texure.  Dyeing over colored wools is so satisfying.  I can't wait for the yarn to dry so I can start knitting it.  Do you think it will dry faster if I check on it more often?  We celebrate her 91st birthday in less than 2 weeks.  It would be wonderful to have it done by then.  I better go check and see if it is dry yet.

In my last post I showed you the yellow and red fiber from my Happy Accidents dyeing.  Here is is spun up with a few friends.

Orange: 15.5 micron Merino

Red: Alpaca-Merino-Tussah Silk blend

Purple: Targhee (love how springy it is!)

Tannish: fawn Alpaca-Tussah Silk dyed similarly to the orange only less saturated.

All are chain plied and about a DK weight. I am thinking of making some sort of modular knit.  A scarf or shawl maybe.  The idea is still perculating.  More yarn will be required for anything other than the smallest of scarves.  I'm thinking of yellow and maybe something dark like a natural black or dark brown.  What do you think?

Happy Accidents

Sometimes the dye pot plays tricks on me.  Most of the time, these tricks turn out to be happy accidents.  A chance blending of colors or colors behaving in ways I didn't predict.  Recently I was finishing up a long dyeing session and wanted to use up some dyes.  It was a case of toss them together on top of some extra bits and see what happens.

Yellow with splotches of red.  Be still my heart!  The colors are brighter in real life (my pictures always look washed out when I post them to my blog - so vexing!).  The fiber is 15.5 micron merino.  That is squarely in the cashmere range for softness with a 3 inch staple length.  Hubba hubba!  This fiber may be my latest BFF (Best Fiber Friend).  I think it will take a trip through my wheel tonight.

Another Happy Accident came from a large dye pot full of fibers.  I had intended to get a red, a nice semi-solid.  Instead I got a variegated red to peach blend.  A new colorway, called Winesap, was born.  (This may help to explain why I have over 100 named colorways.)  On my way past the spinning wheel I tripped and 14 lovely ounces of BFL got spun up into a 3-ply worsted weight.

Fiber (again with the washed out picture issue):

Here are some singles yarn:

I am knitting it into a thick shawl to warm me on cool evenings.  So far it is all garter stitch, lacy goodness coming soon!  (Can't wait, garter bores me to tears!)

I love the way the yarn has stripes and the colors shift from light to dark.  Though the camera does imply more contrast than my eyes perceive in real life.

That's all I've got for now.  I'm working on some fun things I can't blog about yet.  Stay tuned!