Chicken of the Woods

These are photographs I took last summer in my yard. I didn't know at the time what I was looking at. I looked at several mushroom sites, but for some reason I didn't think this was the same as anything I found. This was growing out of an old Elm tree stump (on the West side). We cut the tree down years ago and carved a stool into the stump and the stump has been there ever since. Last summer is the first time anything like this developed. Recently, I discovered through a blog I follow,  , that what I had was a 'Sulfur Shelf' mushroom, also known as 'Chicken of the Woods' (Laetiporus sulphureus). Fellow blogger, Lisa Jordan (lil fish studios) is a seasoned mushroom hunter. She has several posts on eating, dyeing with and hunting mushrooms. Not only does this make a lovely dye bath, it also is edible and supposedly, tastes like...you got it, chicken!

Since I finally found out what I had, and more importantly, that it is useful for dyeing, I started looking for it again this summer. I have been disappointed in that there is no sign of it in the place it grew last year. I hadn't harvested any of it last year, not knowing what it was, so I hoped it would come back.

This morning when I walked out to the mailbox I passed the stump, as I do everyday. To my surprise, I found this on the 'seat' of the stump, (the East side). I am so happy to see this beautiful mushroom growing here again. I plan to watch it to see how much bigger it gets. I am going to harvest some of it this year, when it gets bigger, to dye with. I may even cook a little up for my husband (he is a much braver soul than me...).

I will report soon on the growth and dyeing of this gem. I can't wait to see if it grows as big as last year! Meanwhile, I am going to do a little more hunting to see if there is anything else wonderful in my woods.

North Country Fiber Fair

I have been hearing about the North Country Fiber Fair for several years. It is held each September in Watertown, South Dakota. I have thought about going many times, but it seemed that something always got in the way. This year, I finally made it. I had a wonderful time. There were many venders there from all over with items for sale and lots of new and interesting ideas. I met a lot of friendly people from a lot of different places. It is so inspiring to be surrounded by people who are as passionate about fiber as I am!

The fair lasts for three days. There is no admission fee. Countless demonstrations are taking place all three days. In the barn and area a there are sheep, goats, llamas, alpacas, even a Bactrin camel! There are animal judging contests, sheering demonstrations, dog obedience and sheep dog demonstrations.

Tracy Miller from Billabong Border Collies gave several demonstrations of border collies working stock. It was very entertaining and informative. Tracy explained that so much of what the dogs do is instinct, and the trainers' job is to work with the dog, teaching the dogs commands for what they are already doing.The dogs are definitely enjoying themselves, as is Tracy.

There are spinning wheels everywhere you look. Many venders selling spinning tools, yarn, looms, even baskets from Giana.

 

 I tried to stop myself, but I did buy some really wonderful roving, a large bag of beautifully hand dyed mohair locks, some yarns that were hand dyed, and almost another wheel...







Classes are offered on spinning, knitting, basket weaving, dying, color theory, crochet, photography, Kumihimo,braiding, felting, wool combing, tatting, nalbinding, rug hooking, and even building and using a triangle loom.

I didn't sign up for any classes this year, but will next year. It was really a lot of fun. Well worth the drive. Good people, interesting demonstrations, lovely things to touch and buy... and a lot of inspiration. I have all sorts of new things I want to try! Next year. I am already looking forward to it!

North Country Fiber Fair

It's a Matter of Madder

I am back at the dye pot again today. I have been experimenting with Madder. Madder is a plant root that has been used for dying for centuries. It produces many different shades, from pinks, reds, oranges, rusts and purples. I dyed some wool with madder several weeks ago using an alum mordant. The result was a beautiful orange, almost cinnabar.


Today, I used that same dye bath that I had saved from the first run. This time, it came out a deep, variegated rose color. This was very different than the original color. I was amazed at the difference between the first and second run.

I had mordanted some wool with copper. I decided to see what would happen if I used copper for a mordant instead of alum. I put some of the wool in the same pot as before. This time it turned a beautiful plum. I ran one more batch of wool through the pot that also had copper mordant. This time, I got a lilac color!

Below is a photo of all four batches of wool. Left to right: first run, alum mordant; second run alum mordant; third run copper; fourth run copper. Amazing. I am really pleased with all four results!

I thought that I would post a picture of my finished mordants. I started these back on July 23, 2013 (see that post for the instructions on making both mordants). The jars have been sitting out on the deck since then. Iron is on the right, copper on the left.

Addicted to Blending!

I have found that I really enjoy blending colors together. It is so fun to see what happens. I start with a picture in my mind, but it changes as the colors start to blend. I never know what I will end up with when it is all done and made into yarn. One thing that helps is that all the colors I am using are from nature so you can't really go too far off.

Just had to show you my latest blending project! This is a soft, beautiful three ply yarn that is thick/thin worsted weight.

From fuzzy worms!

Once again, blended on the drum carder. I used three large batts and ended up with 160 gr. of Navajo ply yarn. The skein is just over 200 yards. I don't know if I have the heart to make anything with it! The skein itself is so pretty, I hate to take it apart. 

Color Blending on a Drum Carder

Since I started dyeing wool and yarn I have a stash of really nice, naturally dyed fiber as well as some colored fleeces from colored sheep. I decided to try blending some of them on a drum carder. I have made 'art batts' by sandwiching different fibers together and then carding them. This is great for creating funky yarn, but I wanted something more uniform in texture. I put all the different colors of roving I have together with some colored fleece and picked out several I thought would meld nicely together.

I looked through my stash of miscellaneous fiber bits I have purchased at various places and times to add to my wool. I picked out some 50% Marino superfine-50% Tencel in Teal and white. I brought out some grey and some brown colored fleece and chose some roving dyed with red cabbage, onion skins and madder. These looked pretty nice together. I thought that adding the Marino/Tencel blend would add a little shimmer to the yarn without getting too flashy.  The base color was the red cabbage (on the bottom of the photo-it is blue-green, I know).

I started by applying a thin even layer of the red cabbage roving. To that I added bits of color. When I wanted a layer of color, as with the red cabbage, I applied it using the small roller to feed it to the large drum. If I was applying a color for punch or that I wanted only in certain places, I applied it directly onto the drum. When I got to a spot where I could no longer see a color, I added some more. If I thought it looked a little drab I found another color to add. When I thought the colors were getting too bright, I calmed them back down with some more red cabbage or some of the silver grey fleece.

As the batt was forming on the drum I kept a picture in my mind of the finished batt and how the yarn would look. I had a loose idea of what I wanted by thinking about New Mexico and the colors of the Southwest. It is pretty difficult to get really specific on a drum carder, but you can create beautiful color combinations and it gives you some control over how blended together the colors become. I new it was time to stop adding fiber when the drum was no longer picking up the wool from the small feeder roller. Below is a picture of the first batt completed on the drum.

I removed the batt with two large knitting needles, drafting and rolling it into rollags. I got five rollags. from this batt. 

 

I made another batt as much like the first as I could I tried to load the colors in a similar manner and also tried to get the batt about the same size as the first.  I got another five rollags from the second batt. I ended up making one more small batt, as that was all the red cabbage roving I had. Thirteen rollags total. I put them all in a basket and would spin them randomly to diminish the effect of coming from different batts.

I spun the rollags into a fine singles. Spinning from the rollag is really nice. You just tease the wool from one end. I knew I wanted the yarn plied, but wasn't sure how. I didn't want to ply two singles together because I didn't want to barber pole the colors on top of each other. Because the batts were made on a drum carder, I couldn't really control how the specific colors came off. I wanted them to stay as clear as possible.

 

 I decided that Navajo Ply was the way to go. I can't really describe how to ply this way here without making a video. It is a way of plying a three ply yarn from a single strand by making a loop in the single and bringing the the thread through the loop and spinning it all together. It is really best to watch a video or two. It can seem really tricky at first. Like anything else with spinning, you just have to practice until you 'feel' it. A big thing to watch out for is over-plying and getting a yarn with too much energy. It will appear over-twisted until it is washed, so don't expect it to ply back on itself nicely on the bobbin. It is important to keep a consistant amount of twist in the singles and matching it with the same amount of opposite twist in the yarn. A couple videos that I have seen that are really helpful are Susan Anderson - Navajo Plying and Navajo Plying.mp4 - Charlotte Bech. Both of these are well done and easy to understand.

This is my finished 'Taos' Navajo plied yarn. I ended up with about 180 yards of worsted/DK weight yarn. It is a very soft yarn with a nice amount of loft.