Twin Berry dye

Remember the berry post? Well, I couldn't resist using the twin berries (Lonicera involucrata) as dye.
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Typically, berry dyes are not light fast and will slowly fade. For that reason (and because I usually prefer eating berries rather than dyeing with them), I have avoided berry dyes. I have now changed my mind on the matter. In my opinion, color fading would only be a bad thing if you used the dyed fiber in a wall hanging or piece of art. If the color fades from fiber used for clothing/accessories there are many things you can do. First, the color may never fade and you'll be glad you used the berry/etc. as dye. Second, you may have worn out or lost the object before the color fades. Third, you can re-dye using the same dyestuff. Fourth, you can re-dye using another dyestuff giving more use the the same object.
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Over the last two years, I have happened upon about 5 Lonicera involucrata plants on UW campus. I was almost too late for the berries, but I checked all 5 plants and gathered about 1 cup of berries and the bright, waxy involucres (the showy 'collar' below the berry for which the plant was named).

I blended the berries with hot water in a food processor and then poured the liquid and chopped plant into a jar. I added 2 spoonfuls of alum as a mordant and shook to dissolve. I wetted a few pieces of 100% cotton cloth and crammed them in the jar. Jar dyeing gives a 'mottled' look, which I didn't mind. If I wanted an even dye, I would have used a pot or larger jar with more water, so the cloth would be completely and evenly submerged.

I took one piece out after 2 minutes (the light piece, which I folded before submerging in dye so it would dye unevenly) and the others I left for 2 days.

I plan to make headbands out of this twin berry cloth.

I am storing the remaining dyebath in an old plastic yogurt tub in the freezer.

Ingalls Peaks - East Peak

Adam and I went on an alpine adventure.

We hiked about 5 miles to Ingalls Peaks and intended to summit the East Peak by climbing. There are 3 (North, South, and East) Ingalls Peaks each with several climbing routes. Adam researched each route and picked the easiest - The South Face of East Peak - since I am still a beginner.

The hike in was great, the meadow where we camped was beautiful, the views of Mt Stewart were amazing,

the goats were cute as ever

Adam, the alpine guide, was focused, strong, and encouraging

Everything was perfect...except we couldn't find the route we were looking for :(

We went back and forth climbing up and down walls only to climb them again. In the end, we are pretty sure we found the route. It was different than we were imagining, so we didn't recognize it.

Adam ventured out on these exposed slabs (above) to see if the summit was near enough to reach before nightfall. It wasn't, so we had to leave without finishing the route. I was pretty nervous to climb out on these slabs. The rock was serpentine (smooth and slippery) with a large drop off below.
It was a full day and we learned a lot; the adventure was successful!

I was a happy - but timid - climbing partner. Alpine climbing was more extreme in real life than I had imagined. Now that I've lived through my first adventure, I'll do better next time.

We camped in the charming alpine meadow and watched the METEOR SHOWER! (serendipitous timing!) and hiked down to our car the next day after freshening up in the river.

Bachelor's Button

As you may recall from this post, I have a collection of vintage handiwork magazines.

I want to spotlight one, "Edgings" from 1941, that I find particularly wonderful. It is full of knit and crochet lace edging patterns. Each one is inspired by and named after a plant or flower!

I am considering posting the pattern to several of the best ones.

Here is the Batchelor's Button:

I made a sample swatch of this edging in red (using 'fine' crochet thread with size 10 hook) and found it beautiful. I can't wait to find the perfect garment for this trim.....

Let me know if you make a swatch, I would love to see how it turns out and how you use it.

berries

August is the time for berries!

Twin Berries (Lonicera involucrata)

Huckleberries (Vaccinium ovatum)

Oregon Grape (Mahonia sp.)

Salal (Gaultheria shallon)

and of course Blackberries!

I can't wait to make jam, jelly, sauce and dye with these berries :)

dreaming

I woke up this morning after some awesome mushroom dreams.

As a wedding gift, our friends, Kate and Neil, gave us two incredible pillow cases. They screen printed original artwork of each of us asleep and dreaming. Adam is dreaming about Tess, and Tess is dreaming about mushrooms!
Their gift has been surprisingly accurate (though I, of course, also dream about Adam).
I'll share a few bits from my latest mushroom dream (in case you are wondering what a mushroom dream is like...):
I was at my grandma's old house in Merced, California. I went outside through the screen door onto a porch and saw golden fields of hay/wheat. Some migrant workers passed on the road. Slowly, I started to find more and more mushrooms. Eventually, I was in a suburban neighborhood (Beacon Hill) I recognized from my childhood in Laguna Niguel, California. It was dark/night and the roads were actually water - like a still lake at night. I was traveling around by canoe finding TONS of mushrooms. I could paddle up to the river banks in front of the houses and see the mushrooms growing off stumps, and logs and in the soil. I distinctly remember a huge cluster of Letioporus "Chicken of the Woods." It was flat and fan-like at the base of a tree. I remember being very happy and excited because I was finding so many mushrooms I liked! After I had scoped out the area, I was going to paddle back around to gather the ones I wanted into my canoe. Everything was dark, quiet, and still like night time and there were other people there. There were a few other girls looking for mushrooms, but I didn't know them. I remember my dad was in this dream, but I can't remember in what way; I think near the end of the dream.
I woke up, made a salad for mine and Adam's lunch, rode the bus to work, and then had the most inspiring day. I was very busy, and had lists and lists of things I had to do before the end of the day. With my mind racing, as it does when you are busy, I came up with wonderful art and sewing projects. Like I said, my mind was racing, and I kept imagining all these things I was making, how beautiful they were, how they were a satisfying, artful combination of fungi, natural dyeing, and stitch witchery.
I look forward to actualizing these visions someday soon...

Oh! and later that day I actually did find some mushrooms! On my way home, I found Agaricus augustus - The Prince. It has a distinct, sweet almond scent and flavor. The stipes (stems) are often fairly deep in the soil; the cap has small scales and stains yellow; the veil is heavy and there are chunky scales along the stipe. I found it under true Cedars (Cedrus sp.), a "textbook" location. Last year I made a sweet mushroom dessert, this year...I'm still deciding what to do. I think I'll eat a few in scrambled eggs and slice and dry the others for later.

Reishi!

Ganoderma lucidum

(Same Ganoderma lucidum 8 days earlier)

I unwittingly grew reishi mushrooms :)

I was forced to sort through the mass of rotting mushroom bags under my desk and was shocked to see Reishis, Ganoderma lucidum, growing out of a bag. Reishi is one of the most famous mushrooms in Chinese Medicine, but I never grew out a reishi culture....hmmm?

The label on the bag said Lentinula edodes (Shiitake) from Spore Works. I realized this was one of the cultures that had been donated to the UW Farm and it must have been mislabeled.

But I don't mind :)

I'm going to grow them, dry them, grind them up (somehow), mix them into melted chocolate and make my own reishi chocolates like they do at Fungi Perfecti.

I might get a few more...see the new ones forming?

scrubber

My sister, Briana, and I were walking around Seattle one day, and while in a cooking store, she authoritatively said,
"I command you to get this."
Of course I did, and I love it. (It's a veggie scrubbing brush)

Family Tree

"The apple doesn't fall far from the tree..."

Me with my Grandma Nancy.

Cork Oak

Wow, look at these photos from cork production!
Isn't it incredible?!
I found this while looking for a book (Forest Giants of the Pacific Coast) in the UW library.
Upper left: slicing the cork from a cork oak tree (Quercus suber).
Upper right: traditional cork use as a beehive.
Lower left: stacks of harvested cork
Lower right: making cork bottle stoppers from strips of cork.

There are a few things I find so incredible and fascinating about this photo. One, that there exists a tree with such thick, spongy bark; two, that the cork can easily be peeled away in one piece (wow!); three, that there can be so much of it in one place. I found the cork tree and cork making process fascinating; I will never look at a cork bottle stopper the same...

Camlann

Yesterday we went with friends to an awesome place called Camlann. It's a Medieval village with villagers (actors) portraying an aspect of life in 1376 England. I saw a flyer for it when we were in Carnation at the ward camp out and wanted to see if they had a good wool dyeing display. They did! There was a wonderful booth on dyeing wool, sewing, and rope making - right up my alley (whatever that means). I learned that I can use Sumac berries to dye. I am going to get some this fall for sure!

I will have an outdoor fire pit at my next house

Some color samples:

I also loved the leather crafts. Everyone was in full, authentic clothing, including handmade leather shoes. The cobbler did a great job:




Here is Adam, learning Medieval martial arts:

The flower wreath lady, every good village has one:

The candle maker:

everyone got to make candles