A new arrival
I'm afraid I still haven't managed to do much dyeing since we moved to West Sussex but I have found time to knit some items for my daughter's second child, Isabella, who was born on March 19th and is a sister for Milly. The photos below show:
1. A small blanket for the pushchair. It was knitted in a mixture of wool, silk and cashmere in a soft grey colour and decorated with a few crocheted flowers.
2. A (rather scary?) monkey, knitted at my daughter's request.
3. A doll that granddaughter Milly has rather taken to, so I'm now knitting one for her as well!
All the coloured yarns have been dyed with natural dyes, of course!
Delighted to hear of Isabella's arrival and the things you've made for her are adorable. You are the perfect grandmother!
Do you have much gorse near you? I've just achieved the lovely yellow and that beautiful dark turquoise you get when you overdye gorse with indigo. Otherwise my indigo vats (one Colour Run and one urine) co-existing on my aga are pretty disappointing.
What fun knitted toys! The colours show how lovely and bright natural dyes can be. These are lovely presents for your grandchildren.
Are you planting dye plants this year? I'm planning to start lots of things from seed. I have lost many garden plants in the cold winter, but madder is sprouting and the Dyers Broom I thought looked dead down to the roots has amazed me with leaf buds appearing on the main stem, just above the ground.
Thanks for your kind comments, Dot.
I’m hoping to establish a dyeplant bed in my new garden & I already have a dyer’s broom bush & 3 woad plants from last year that I brought from my old garden. I’ve sown some woad, wild madder (Rubia peregrina), dyers chamomile & weld seeds. So far nothing has germinated but I live in hope! If necessary I may be able to find someone locally who can sell me a few weld & woad plants, so I can get going again.
I’m still mourning the loss of all the dye plants I had to leave behind when we moved, especially my large madder bed. I didn’t even have time to harvest the roots.
Hi
Congratulations on Isabella's arrival.
I love the blanket and hope to have reason to make a couple myself some time.
You are welcome to dyeplants when you come to our guild workshop in June. They were yours in the first place. I hope the walnut trees have survived the winter, some of our evergreens haven't. My mulberry trees are nearly ready to leaf so I hope we have no hard frosts from now on, but that is probably too much to hope for.
Maggie