Historical dyeing at Harrietville

Always excited to do some dyeing as it's the one area I'm not really set up to do, seriously, at home. In particular, an indigo dyebath is a must. It's a magic process, as the yarn comes out green and as it oxidizes, it turns blue. And every shade of blue. If you ever get a chance have a look at one and always take at least one skein, as there is often enough to have extras. (Just remember to ask and don't just plonk in your skein as this can upset the dyebath, or more particular, the creator of the dyebath.....the dyebath does not like air!)

At Harrietville, for each of the three sessions that you can participate in there was a different dyebath. The first was Osage Orange, the second Aliziran which is a substitute for Madder and lastly the Indigo dyebath.

I dyed a skein of each of the colours.

I also dip dyed a third. This was some wool boucle from Glenora that I found in my stash. So about half was dyed Osage Orange, the other Aliziran and then we just dipped in the middle and you can just see the blue, but also the touch of green and purple as the colours mixed.  Love it. Thanks to Jan and Carmel for their work and patience.

The 50gm balls will make fingerless mittens and the boucle will make a scarf, if I find the right pattern.

And just to prove it's not just textiley things, here's the beautiful, just picked corn from a roadside trader we had last night. Beautiful!