Natural dyes tutorial

Go see it, do it, do it now!

my dyeing wool with natural dyes tutorial is available free in .pdf form from the Just Jussi site, click here

see, my time has not been completely wasted.

all tied up

well this has taken a while - no? when did we leave Oz?...January 3, we applied for Broadband around January 14...advised them we were moving in January 30...and joy of joys today, this minute I am finally sitting at my own desk, on my own laptop connected to the interknit.

I don't know where to start, it has been so long since I could surf with abandon, I need to check in, see where people have been, what they have been up to, what's hot right now, what's not.

In the meantime, the business is ticking over despite the lack of internet, a photographer came today for a photo for the Herald business section - a lovely (knitter) journalist came and interviewed me for her story on the Made from NZ campaign even though I warned her I'm really a teeny-tiny business (with big plans) but she said that was fine, and trekked out to Titirangi, and met Frasier, who promptly fell asleep in her lap endearing himself forever.

The Knit-Rangers are ready for a meetup, just have to decide...everything! time/day/venue, but we have a couple of members via Meetup, and a couple of locals who have expressed an interest, so now I am "back" I can organise that.

I have also been playing with Organic dyes, a tutorial is literally only hours away.

Fate

Sometimes fate seems non-existant, I decide what happens to me, I plan my day, life trundles on...good things happen, bad things happen, it's life.

Othertimes fate holds a gun to my head and frogmarches me straight into the path of destiny, there is often a collision, it is usually messy, but it is always positive.

Today was one of those days.I pottered around this morning, drove in Christchurch to visit an antique shop I saw yesterday, Flash has a hankering after some genuine old signs for our BBQ area, and I had seen some in their window.

First I went to the huge Sally Army shop, and picked up a vintage chenille bedspread and a milk bottle carrier (complete with 4 glass milk bottles) for $5, then to the secondhand bookshop with the largest pile of "Stitchcraft" magazines I have ever seen! they didn't have many knitting books, but the number of vintage magazines and leaflets of knitting patterns was astounding, I picked up a delightful 1950's "Dressed stuffed toys" complete with templates, a bed jacket pattern book with pattern names like "femme fatale" and "gondola" (the imagination reels!) a gorgeous "Practical knitting illustrated" which "Daddy and Jayne" gave to "Dear Mummy, with the dearest love" in 1946, which makes this intriguing book even more special, it contains patterns for everything - the whole family, the house, even toys.In 1954 "Bruce" sent "Shirley" "Les Tresors de la Broderies" (embroidered treasures) and it is stunning, even in black and white (although there are a couple of colour plates) I can't wait to study it further, and I wonder whatever became of Bruce and Shirley...his message read "Christmas 1954, I send this little spoonful of the wealth of Europe, wishing I could send it all!"10 vintage knitting magazines completed that purchase.

The antique shop was closed (until tomorrow...) but the bric-a-brac shop next door was not...10 metres of 1970s braid for $1 and a vintage wooden Lichfield sign from the mens department of Ballentynes department store.

I turned the car in the direction of Akaroa, my destination for the day, and drove for maybe 5 minutes until I remebered directions from the "Crafty Girls" book, ah! there's a knitting factory shop around here somewhere...well it had closed down - but there was another huge thrift shop in it's place...2 more chenille blankets and 2 vintage pinnies for Blaise...ok, back on the road!

20 minutes later, in the gorgeous bleached blonde Canterbury countryside, I pass a plastered block building on the side of the road "Yarn" it says in big letters..."Tai Tapu wool carders and spinners"...in a split second I toss up turning the car around, or checking it out on my way back from Akaroa, I turn the car around, Fate does a victory lap.

Inside the small shop are shelves and rack of spun yarn, all different plies and wools, hanks of fine coloured wool are hanging on a wall, flax baskets on the floor are overflowing with carded roving, there are posters of sheep breeds, a couple of spinning wheels, and an almighty racket coming from out the back, I poke my head around the door and behold a huge machine carding yarn, obviously it also spins and plies and puts yarn onto cones, but don't ask me to explain it.

I catch the eye of the man operating the machinery, he comes around, past bags labelled with names and fibre types, one with cashmere locks spilling out, another with chocolate wool trying to escape.I am afraid that I did not get his name, I did not take photographs, I did talk a lot, and listen a lot, and almost swoon when I realised that here were people who could spin yarn for me! who would sell me small amounts of undyed merino on cones! (when I say small amounts, I mean up to 10 kgs...the other spinners I have spoken to are not interested in small fry like me) I did remember to leave my contact details, and to take his.

For those in Canterbury who didn't know about them - here are their details:

Tai Tapu Wool Carders

P O Box 56, Tai Tapu, CanterburyPhone 03 329 6859 Fax 03 329 6889

Various/mixedFine, medium, strongWhite, Black and coloured, DyedAll processed fleece. Custom carding Carded B&C wool. Carded dyed wool. Wool/mohair, wool/alpaca blends.Weaving singles. Hand knitting yarn. Agents for Majacraft products.

Not in the roadtrip book, but should be on your list.

The charming wool man gave me a part cone of a cable spun merino to play with, they also had felted merino yarn, we had a great chat about yarn and sheep and organics, pollution, you name it...but once again i found my words failing me...I know a lot about fibre, knitwear production, yarn counts, tex, wet processes etc, but you think it sounds like I know anything at all when I talk to other knitters/yarn people? no it bloody doesn't.

Magical realism is the genre I invoke when I think about my problems communicating with others...I am an intelligent woman, but unless you are a close friend or family member you will think I am either intensely shy or slightly thick."Years ago a man took her words from her, to this day she is still re-gathering them"

Enough of that.Elated I continued my journey to Akaroa, a French settlement on Banks Peninsula,outside of Christchurch, I drove windy roads up and down steep hillsides, the roadsides strewn with lupins, yarrow, evening primrose, heliotrope and vipers bugloss, I stood at the crest of a hill to take photos and marvelled at the way the european herbs have become part of the landscape, huge comfrey plants nestled at my feet, mullein and ladies mantle were tucked under a nearby apple tree, weighed down with a heavy crop - this is a NZ heritage tree, like so many by the roadside it is the legacy of an apple core tossed from a car window during an interminable car journey to the seaside many years ago.

I passed golden fields full of dirty sheep, irrigated emerald fields full of fluffy white pompoms of sheep, sheep on the road, sheep in trucks, under trees, lined up against fences to catch the shade.

I passed a sign which read " cheap lawnmowers, low maintenance, self propelled" then I realised they were selling sheep!

I drove through swarms of white butterflies, while the sun shone hot on my arm, and the sky sweated a brilliant singing blue, past fields of broccoli which smelt like cabbage soup as they slowly steamed in the intense heat, to Birdlings Flat a beach with wild turquoise seas (no photo - I couldn't do the colour justice) and dunes of flat grey pebbles - a wild and desolate place, the link goes to a jewellery company who manufacture unique jewellery from the stones and NZ paua shell (scroll down). I will return in winter, I can imagine the desolation to be more powerful when it is isolated.

I arrived at my destination - 2 words - "twee" and "cloying" the village of colonial wooden cottages and newer plaster buildings nestled at the feet of rolling hills, next to a tidal estuary, is as it is always described - pretty cottage gardens, sympathetic town planning, french street names and shop signs, and maybe if I was with a companion I may have enjoyed it more, but a quick wander down the street convinced me that the journey was indeed more important than the destination, the shops offered the same tat as the giftshops in the mall at home, the 2 galleries did not inspire me to purchase, a visit to the Wool gallery saw me leave town empty handed.

15 minutes later in "Little River" I perked up, the craft shop there was full of local products, the coffee refreshing, I bought a turquoise bowl to remind me of the colour of the sea in this wild place, had a chat with the proprietress about Holly's course, and the state of the ozone layer, and left feeling recharged.

Now I am back in the motel, my daughter had a long day at Uni, and is passed out on the bed with a book, I should drag her into town for a good meal before I return home tomorrow, but she looks settled, maybe we'll order Thai...I have enjoyed the opportunity to blog daily that this trip has afforded me, hopefully not too much time will pass until our internet is connected at home, as I have things to tell you!

trail mix?

today I returned to Hands Ashford - and this time I could purchase whatever I wanted, no quarantine this time! The little bags in the picture above are neither spices nor trail mix ingredients (I was teasing Holly) but madder, brazil wood, cutch and cochineal (beetles-shhhh) I have had enough of not being able to source coloured organic merino, so have decided to have a go myself. Years ago when I lived on Waiheke I dyed yarn with eucalyptus leaves and lichen, using baking soda, and copper and iron cooking pots as mordants instead of metal salts, I ended up with ranges of pinks, apricots and purples, some of which I still have in baby garments knitted back then - and they are still colourfast. In later years I grew rose madder for pinks, yarrow and coreopsis, and used alum - in tiny quantities, to fix yellows from the coreopsis and yarrow. I am going to experiment with my purchases, as well as walnut shells and onion skins - hopefully I'll end up with a range of subtle elegant, colourfast shades, which I know to be safe. The organic spinners I have spoken to are wary of commercial "organic" dyes, and fair enough, I only need to dye a moderate amount of yarn, they are responsible for a lot more than that.

I purchased some Touchyarns 4ply merino in the "Blackwatch" colourway , it is beautifully soft, and very reasonable at $15 for 100g.I have started on a wee basket stitch cardigan of my own design, I think this stitch pattern should bring out the colours well.

Tomorrow I plan to drive out to Akaroa - a French settlement on the coast an hour from Christchurch, I have a copy of the "Crafty girls road trip"book, new batteries in the camera, and a whole day to myself, I plan to explore the galleries and shops, especially the Paua pearl gallery (blue pearls) but somehow I don't think I'll be buying anything there! The book has a few a few glaring holes: Geoff's Emporium of Dominion rd, and behind the new library in Henderson are legendary, but missing. I would thoroughly recommend the book to anyone planning any travel in NZ, especially those from overseas, it is wonderful to have all of those resources in one place, the author has done a lot of work.

All sounds well at home, Flash has not continued with the demolitions (the fridge didn't fit in the kitchen, so a couple of cupboards had to go...the dishwasher pipe was behind the back of the glassware cupboard...so that had to go) the girls are mucking in well, even cooking dinner and making his lunch for him, however they did lose Frasier for a few moments...I wonder if they checked his favourite hiding place? better not tell him about the local Indian restaurant nearby my motel...it's called "A taste of Bengal" hmmmm.

The Layla and Frasier show

yes it's me again,broadband still not in residence but getting closer...we now have a dedicated adsl jackpoint thanks to the lovely telecom man who visited last thursday, now we are awaiting delivery of a new router which will not happen while I am here in Christchurch, and the final "switch" to be thrown to actually connect us ( it has got to the point where whenever I imagine that moment I see a bearded man in coat tails brandishing an outlandishly large pair of scissors as he awaits the moment - when he will cut the red ribbon fluttering in front of him and the assembled crowds - hurrah! the Broadband is connected - hurrah!)

Flash has coined a new pseudo-medical term for this semi-connected, semi-delusional state I am currently inhabiting, my feelings of being slightly lost and disjointed, the feeling that there is .something. missing. he says that I am "unplugged from the matrix" and he is correct, I miss my cyber social life, wandering the virtual neighbourhood visiting my friends - has the cold cleared up? how was the first day of school? the baby must have grown a lot, how did that green wool knit up? how was SSK? It is wonderful catching up with family and friends, but half my life is unreachable at present except for the slightest of contact - I am thankful that I have been able to maintain my business suring this time - but there is a lot of updating work to do there.

Holly and I returned to Christchurch today, she starts Uni tomorrow, and I am here until wednesday, when she will move into her flat, this time we know what to do, where to go, what to expect. I am looking forward to spending some quality hours in secondhand bookshops and antiques shops tomorrow, wandering the unspoilt goodwill stores with their treasures of hand embroidered tea towels and candlewick bedspreads. I will be searching for "The Loving stitch" which has been been discontinued, but should be available somewhere in this country! it will make a good companion to my copy of "Thrift to fantasy" a beautiful and expansive book describing domestic crafts from NZ's history. Christchurch still provides good hunting for those of us on the lookout for vintage treasures.

I was going to post photos of my workroom, I am so happy with it, the light, space and wonderful views, but unfortuantely it is presently marred with a 7 foot tall "cat tree", as this is Frasier's "quiet" space for when he needs time out - hopefully it will move to a less conspicuous part of the house soon! oh I can't wait until our lives are just slightly quieter - just for a bit...my mum says that the drama only stops when you die...and even then it continues, but you no longer care! but have i told you about the washer and dishwasher? hmm yes I think so... the brand new bed which broke the first time we slept in it (don't think those thoughts, we were just sleeping...too tired!) (1/16th inch steel - should have been 1/8th used to make the centre brace and slats with huge knots - not a good combination)the flooding dishwasher? the fact that the house had obviously not been cleaned for a long time and I still keep discovering pockets of "ick"...but have I told you about my new herb garden, the fence Flash put up to keep the kitties safely in the entertaining areas, the evenings spent languishing in the spa with a wine, the stars, and my dear husband, the native tuis with their beautiful liquid song, (see one here at youtube)the utter quiet and peace after living on that intersection on Parramatta Road, the big blue LandRover Discovery sitting in my (steeeeeep) driveway, and those aforementioned kitties:

Layla

(yarn? what yarn?)

Frasier

I'm not really biting the zombie baby...

well this is boring

yes we are still sans internets, Telstra Clear have told us that they would be delighted to have us as customers, but it will take "about a week" for us to be connected, that was over a week ago, we are on kiwi time for sure.

The unpacking has finally ended - now the rearranging begins, we have only lost 3 lampshades, which is ok, because I was planning on knitting some, and I am sure that when that project has been completed the missing ones will be found - it's all good. We have received a quote to have our appliances repaired, thank goodness the weather has been good, and that we have Charlotte's washing machine (which will one day be my felting washing machine) so washing has not been troublesome. I have started work on the herb garden, and have loads of little vegie seedlings ready to go in when I have made a bed for them, I was standing in the garden hanging the washing out in my bare feet, and remarked to Flash that I hadn't had my barefeet on mud for more than 2 years, it felt nice.

A blogiversary and my 39th birthday have passed the blog by, the birthday was wonderful, Flash bought me a wheel cover for the LandRover, and a matching keyring, and Mum bought me a company registration and some number plate surrounds with justjussi.com on them, which look to have already brought me some business! and of course Frasier came home. No photos because I am not on my laptop, but we have heaps, he is personality plus, he just can't-sit-still! he is in your face, smooching and loving, playing, tearing around like a mad thing, and telling you all about it in his lion cub voice, last night he helped his Dad build the home theatre system for upstairs - he has to have a say in everything, Layla is not impressed, so they haven't met properly yet, but she is becoming more curious about him, so hopefully it won't be long, she is only a couple of weeks older than him, so we'll just take it easy and not push them.

The girls are back at school, and Holly and I are dropping her car off at the car transporters today, it was just too much to think about driving it to Christchurch, so we are flying down on Sunday to do the whole Uni thing again, at least this year we have a better idea of what we are doing, and I will have room in my suitcase for all of the op shop bargains!

I am still feeling out of it, but much closer to getting back in!

fallen off...

the face of the earth

not really, but it feels like it. We are in the midst of the great unpacking, there are over 170 boxes, and the packers had great fun...the handset of the phone was in the box labelled "patio" the base of the phone was in a box labelled "sewing", all of the peices of my pasta maker were in 1 box...but the handle was in a box labelled "bathroom 1", I suppose they need to do something to liven up their job!

we are incredibly tired, Flash and I were unpacking until 4.30 am, then got 3.5 hours sleep, on the upside I have lost 3 kgs in the last week without trying!

The girls are happier than they have been in weeks, their rooms are lovely and face onto the back entertaining deck, they are spending hours lying on the camp beds (blow up) in the pool, as the temperatures here are very hot.

Layla came to live with us yesterday (she has been in a cattery since Charlotte moved our of her flat) she is a delight, so curious and chatty, she is the same age as Frasier, so I can't wait to see how they get on, speaking of our boy, he has just had "the snip" and will be home on the 10th.

The knitting room is looking great, i will post photos (we are still in the "during" phase) and I can't wait until we have everything set up, Flash is setting up the other half of the room as a study, it is going to be so much fun.

Hopefully internet access will be up and running soon, until then I am getting about 20 minutes every couple of days, hence the lack of posting and blogging, can't wait to catch up with all of your blogs and see how things are going for you and your families, and I can't wait to share photos of our new home

fallen off...

the face of the earth

not really, but it feels like it. We are in the midst of the great unpacking, there are over 170 boxes, and the packers had great fun...the handset of the phone was in the box labelled "patio" the base of the phone was in a box labelled "sewing", all of the peices of my pasta maker were in 1 box...but the handle was in a box labelled "bathroom 1", I suppose they need to do something to liven up their job!

we are incredibly tired, Flash and I were unpacking until 4.30 am, then got 3.5 hours sleep, on the upside I have lost 3 kgs in the last week without trying!

The girls are happier than they have been in weeks, their rooms are lovely and face onto the back entertaining deck, they are spending hours lying on the camp beds (blow up) in the pool, as the temperatures here are very hot.

Layla came to live with us yesterday (she has been in a cattery since Charlotte moved our of her flat) she is a delight, so curious and chatty, she is the same age as Frasier, so I can't wait to see how they get on, speaking of our boy, he has just had "the snip" and will be home on the 10th.

The knitting room is looking great, i will post photos (we are still in the "during" phase) and I can't wait until we have everything set up, Flash is setting up the other half of the room as a study, it is going to be so much fun.

Hopefully internet access will be up and running soon, until then I am getting about 20 minutes every couple of days, hence the lack of posting and blogging, can't wait to catch up with all of your blogs and see how things are going for you and your families, and I can't wait to share photos of our new home