Rhubarb and Custard Update!

Well I've finally managed to take a photograph of my Rhubarb and Custard scarf and here it is.
I can't give you the pattern for this one as it's copyright, but it's knitted on the diagonal.

I spun the Shetland fibres by taking alternate staple lengths of each colour, red lac and marigold. I didn't want precise staples so that I got a good mix of red lac with red lac and marigold with marigold and red lac with marigold when I plied the two singles.

Rhubarb and Custard!

Hi, do you remember the hanks of wool yarn and Shetland tops I dyed at the end of last month, well I've spun up the 2% Red Lac (Rhine-M) and the 2% Marigold (Ambrosia) and here is the result.

I'm really delighted with the hank which is pun on my Jumbo flyer. I took staple lengths of each colour, alternating each colour as I spun. The staple lengths weren't accurately weighed as I wanted some overlap of the colours.

I'm going to knit it into a diagonal scarf, from a pattern I was shown in The Hague at Dineke's workshop last month, which I'm hoping will give me some subtle diagonal stripes. If I have any left I might just get out my Knitters Loom and weave a narrow scarf, too.

Fame at last!!

I was interviewed earlier this week by The Textiles Directory and have been featured in this weeks Friday Focus. Please take some time to read the interview here. You will also get a chance to win a Mini Starter Kit if you read all the way through to the end!

It was quite an in depth interview and hope that it will give every one some ideas of how to use natural dye extracts and some food for thought. Some of the ideas will be used in this blog in the coming months, in a little more detail, so please keep an eye open or subscribe to our RSS feed.

I was also contacted by Ethical Living magazine with a query from one of there reads. I'm hoping the answer to the query will be in a future issue of that magazine and that I will be able to do some articles with them in the future.

In the mean time have a look at the Pure Tinctoria online shop and have a great week-end.

Alison

Shetland Tops in Natural Dyes

Well I've spun up one of the Shetland tops I dyed at the demo on Saturday. (Tops 6)

I spun it on Monday and have been knitting a lovely spiral scarf that I was shown in The Hague.

This is the pattern:
Cast on 20 stitches
K one row
*Slip the 1st st, K 8, Yfwd, sl 1 P wise, Turn
P to end (10 st)
Sl 1st st, K 6, Yfwd, sl 1 P wise, Turn
P to end (8st)
Sl 1st st, K 4, yfwd, sl 1 P wise, Turn
P to end (6 st)
Sl 1st st, K 4, (pick up loop under next st and k together with that st, K 1) repeat once, Pick up next loop and k with st. P to end
Repeat from * until desired length is achieved, cast off and secure ends.

It's a really easy pattern and can be knitted in any yarn with any needles! Thanks to Dineke of De Spinners who showed me how!

Clay Cross Lace and Textile Celebration Day

Hi all

on Saturday I was invited to the above event in Derbyshire. In the morning I did a natural dye extracts demonstration and produced the lovely hanks and tops you can see on the right.
The hanks were 95% Blue Face Leicester with a 5% nylon binder and the tops were Shetland.
From the right:
Hank 1 - an immersion bath of Lodhra Bark (Amber-L).
Hank 2 - I painted this one with Annatto (Amazon) and Red Lac (Rhine-M).
Tops 1 - an immersion bath of a mix of Annatto and Red Lac.
Hank 3 - painted with Madder (Indus), Acacia Gum (Caspian) and Kamala (Basant).
Tops 2 - I painted this one with Madder (Indus), AcaciaGum (Caspian) and Myrobalan (Kango).
Tops 3 - this lovely baby pink was an immersion bath of 2% Red Lac (Rhine-M).
Tops 4 - a lovely soft lemon yellow from a 2% immersion bath of Marigold (Ambrosia).
Tops 5 - this is a baby alpaca and bleached tussah silk top painted with Madder (Indus) and Myrobalan (Kango) .
Hank 4 - painted with Madder (Indus), Myrobalan (Kango) and Rhubarb Root (Desert).
Tops 6 - painted with Annatto and Red Lac.

In the afternoon I tutored a Design for the Terrified Master Class. Altogether a very enjoyable day!

Using Pure Tinctoria Dyes in Paper Making

Jane Deane, a very accomplished dyer, has emailed this image to me. It's a collage of an Ichthyosaur, that was included in the design work for a piece of art as a book in Traces at Walford Mill gallery, Wimborne, Dorset, but it has been "re-commissioned" in its own right for an exhibition in September, based on the Jurassic Coast and called Stone, Paper, Scissors.

She used Pure Tinctoria's cutch (Thar) to dye the paper pulp with a varigated effect. Here's how she did it:

For a varigated effect to the paper, just dissolved the dye in water as you would do normally and stirred it into the pulp.

For a more even colour, mix the dye colour in the water for the paper vat, before you add the pulp.

I think it's really beautiful!

Seasons Greetings

While holidaying in Scotland for a few days in November, we woke one morning to this wonderful scene. The light on Loch Rannoch was just amazing and I shot quite a few images which I want to develop into window and wall panels in the New Year.