It’s only natural

I dyed two cotton hankies during my afternoon at Have Company in Grand Rapids. Shown below, with yarn resting upon it, is a brown hankie that was dyed in a bath made from Juglans nigra, or black walnut, and a pale yellow from a pot of brewed Tanacetum vulgare, or common tansy. I've dyed with walnuts before so that pale brown was no surprise, and while I can take or leave most yellows, I love that pale tansy yellow!

I realized that it's been almost two months since I was round-aboutly inspired by Outlander and harvested some natural dyestuff from the back yard to brew for some yarn!

I gathered Impatiens capensis, or touch-me-not, which is fairly prolific on the hillside behind our house (said hillside making it somewhat treacherous to harvest!). I tried to be somewhat scientific — weighing it and making notes about what I did — but I have no idea what happened to all that. But look! Pretty yarn.

Two skeins of my fingering/sock base (75% superwash merino, 25% nylon), and two skeins of a lace base (80% merino, 20% silk). I'm excited to explore some more natural stuff… especially indigo. Mostly, I have some fabric that I'd like to overdye with indigo. But yarn, too!

We have a weekly newspaper in my 'hood. It's in my mailbox every Wednesday and Saturday, and I sometimes fall behind. Um, I don't think I've ever been this far behind! I was all set to get caught up, with coffee and chronological stack of papers, but it didn't happen. Annie & boys were here for the weekend, so I opted to spend some time with them.

It was really a pretty great weekend, and concluded with a drive over to visit Maddy. I love the message board in their kitchen, and that her 3 roommates are "family."

We spent some time with this guy, too. Unless he's sleeping, I don't know if I'll ever get a good photograph of him wearing the adorable Fourques Hat.

Hope you had a great weekend, too.