Drømmegarnet -- The Dream Yarn

     Søndag morgen vågnede Uglemor med opskriften på et vandmelonfarvet garn i hovedet. Det er et gammelt ønske, men den slags garn er håndlavet og skal bestilles hjem fra USA. Med porto, moms, told osv bliver det bare for dyrt.
     Men nu havde jeg drømt, hvordan det skulle farves, med hvilke planter eller kombinationer af planter og hvordan det skulle vindes op.

For many years MotherOwl has been wanting a watermelon coloured sock yarn. But the only way to get one is from an American e-shop. It's not cheap and with taxes, postage etc. the price was in the unattainable end.
Then Sunday morning MotherOwl dreamt of how she was dyeing her own  watermelon yarn and woke up with a complete recipe in her head. She just had to try.

     Efter en indledende gang kluddermor gik vi i gang. 1. punkt var farvning med cochenille. Efter en farvesession i vores plantefarvegruppe havde vi delt det overskydende farvebad, og der var stadig meget farve i. Perfekt til vandmelonfarve.

After some initial messing up the winding -- unravelling a 21 meter long skein takes time! -- the first part was dyed watermelon pink. We had had a dyeing session in our natural dyers' group, and we had split the remaining dye bath from cochineal between us.

Næste omgang var næste afsnit af garnet i det nu tyndere farvebad.

Next part was an easy one, just use the now more spent dye bath.

     Dernæst blev cochenillevandet hældt på en dunk, og Uglemor cyklede ud og plukkede vild gulerod. Det var lige på det sidste, så det blev en laaaang tur. Men resultatet blev som i drømmen.

The cochineal dye bath was poured into a jug -- there's still some red in it -- and MotherOwl went for a bike ride picking Queen Anne's lace for the next part. This resulted in a surprisingly long trip, as the season for QAL is nearing its end. But the result was just as in the dream.

     Rejnfan gror ude i haven, så det var let. I morgen mødes vi atter i farvegruppen, og så bliver de to gule farver tryllet grønne i et indigobad. Jeg glæder mig.

Tansy for the next, and last, part grows in the Owlery, so no long rides needed for that. Tomorrow the dye group will meet again, and the yellow parts will be turned into greens by the magic of an indigo vat.

Heksebryg -- Witch's Brew

     Sidst i juli satte Uglemor og Piraten en heksegryde over. Vi kogte rejnfanblade, syrefrø, æblebark og gamle svampe. Alt sammen i et forsøg på at farve orange uldgarn. 
     Senere plukkede Piraten en masse blomstrende rejnfan, og Uglemor høstede tagrørsblomster. Vi plukkede også oregano i haven, vild gulerod på grøftekanterne og alle Ugleungerne plukkede valnøddeblade fra vores gamle træ. 

- o Yarn Along o -

Late in July MotherOwl and the Pirate boiled up a Witch's brew, consisting of leaves of tansy, seeds of sorrels, bark of apples, dried webcaps. We were trying to dye our yarn orange. Later the Pirate picked flowering tansy and MotherOwl harvested reed flowers. We also picked oregano in the garden, Queen Anne's lace along the roads and all the Owlets cut off heaps of walnut leaves from our old walnut tree.

Rejnfanblade, syrefrø, æblebark og gamle svampe

Leaves of tansy, seeds of sorrels, bark of apples, dried webcaps

Pirate's Tansy - Reed flowers  - Hollyhocks - Tansy - Witch's brew

Syrefrø -- Sorrel seeds

    Uglemor og Ugleungerne havde igen læst "Skyggens lærling". Derfor fik Uglemor den idé at vi skulle farve noget "rangerfarvet" garn. Først blev det vundet i et langt bundt mellem to stole og farvet i fire gule-gulbrune nuancer med vild gulerod, rejnfan, syrefrø, oregano. Så blev det vundet til et endnu længere fed, fik bundet en masse knuder på sig og blev overfarvet med både tagrør og valnød.
     Uglemor synes, at resultatet er mere giraf-farvet end rangerfarvet, så hun prøvede igen med kun merian og tagrør overfarvet med genbrug af valnøddebadet. 

- o 0 o -

MotherOwl and the 3 small Owlets have been re-reading Ranger's apprentice, and we wanted to make some ranger-coloured yarn. A ball of yarn was made into a long hank and dyed four yellow and yellow-brown nuances with QAL, tansy, sorrel seeds, and oregano. Later it was made into an even longer hank, tied into knots and overdyed with walnut and reed flowers.
The resulting yarn is giraffe coloured rather than ranger coloured. MotherOwl tried with a thinner yarn dyed it with oregano and reed flowers and overdyed with walnut, reusing the dye bath for a more subdued colouring.

Vild gulerod og Regnfan, parat til meriangryden

Dyed with QAL and tansy, ready to be dyed with oregano.

Merian-farvegryden. -- Oregano dye bath

Se hvor fint låget passer trods snorene.

Look, the lid is tight even with strings holding up the yarn.

Hemmeligheden er de fine slidser i kanten af låget.

The secret is those fine slits along the rim of the lid.

Masser af knuder og overfarvet med tagrørsblomster og valnød.

Lots of knots and overdyed with reed flowers and walnut leaves.

Giraf-farvet garn

Giraffe coloured yarn

Girafgarn og rangergarn

Giraffe yarn and ranger yarn

Girafgarn i et fint nøgle.
Giraffe yarn in a nice cake

Rangergarn i et nøgle. Det er lidt mørkere i virkeligheden.
Ranger yarn in a cake. It's darker in real life.

Løvfaldsluffer af girafgarnet.Det har en vis selvstribende effekt.
Mittens of the falling leaves. Knit from the giraffe yarn.It looks a bit like self patterning yarn.

TUSAL 8

Nymånen var den 2. august.
Her er min stumpebøtte, der mest er blevet fyldt med ender fra strikkede karklude.

The ne moon was on August 2nd.
Here are my ORTs, which mostly come from knitting dishcloths.

TUSAL-link