Pinked!

I have been traveling around a lot lately due to some family issues. I was out of town for a few days and returned to find I had been 'pinked' by a group of kids in a school organization that is fundraising.
Tied around the neck of one of the flamingos is a sort of ransom note telling me how to contact the Flamingo Relocation Team and how much it will cost me to get these relocated to someone else's yard. (For a small extra fee, I can have them relocated to a yard of my choice! Oh boy. Pay back time!). Of course, my first thought was what sort of color I could get from those feathers.

I am anxious to start gathering dyestuff from my gardens and the ditches nearby. I looked back at my journal to last year thinking the plants were further along at this time last year. I was surprised to see that they really weren't! I thought I started making dye baths from local plants in May, but it wasn't until June. I was at the farm recently and checked on the rhubarb and Snow on the Mountain. Those were some of the earliest plants I used last year. They are not ready yet. Some warmer weather will be needed to bring them along.  Meanwhile, I am back to driving with one eye on the ditches looking for whatever might be growing!

I have been working to spin up the pink and minty green wool I dyed earlier this spring with red cabbage. I should have about a thousand yards of each color in a sock weight two ply. I also have some dye left over from earlier dyeing where I mixed some black walnut and some onion skin dye together. I am anxious to see what color I will come up with from that!