our favorite local opshop has a blackboard out front, announcing its latest wares. recently it had 'homespun, plenty' written in pink chalk. 'great name for a band', i thought, as i went in to check out the plenty. there was another interested party at the homespun table, also checking out the offerings with a keen eye. he was dressed in a leather jacket with a helmet in one hand a skeins of wool in the other. i couldn't help remarking at what a beautifully ironic picture he made. he told me he knitted hats and entered them in the alice springs beanie competition every year. i decided he was ace.
we came home with a few bags of small skeins of various colors. upon opening them i realised they were not only homespun by a local lovely lady, but she had also naturally dyed them. only one has a label 'peach leaves copper mordant' which is a beautiful shade of green. there are other shades of green and some yellows and blues. i like wondering what they have been dyed with? perhaps
this mob could tell me. or
this amazing woman could shed some light? i've been dabbling with dyeing naturally of late, boiling up leaves and flowers and the like in small copper pots and leaving them in the sunshine. so far only resulting in various shades of brown. ho hum.
i'm no knitter, although my 5 year old son recently showed me how to double fingerknit. a revelation, i tells ya. we've been making ropes, necklaces and snakes ever since. i made a sailboat necklace one evening, strung it on some naturally dyed, double fingerknitted homespun and wore it with glee the next day. a friend shared my glee, so i made her one too. my daughter also glee-ed when she saw it, so i made her one as well, sewing her sailboat onto the front of a little blue upcycled dress. i had so much glee for my new sailboat necklace that i made a brooch as well. it's quickie crafting. my favorite kind. and
her's too, so it seems.
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