Dyeing with Cosmos Flowers

In 2013, after those delightful, memorable, happy happy summer weeks in Scotland and the Outer Hebrides, I used marigolds to dye white wool from Orkney.  And with good results.

Fast forward to August, 2015.  Again, I have a bumper crop of flowers for dyeing.  But this summer I am using yellow cosmos to see what yellows will result after boiling on John's Australian wool.

Here are the cosmos flowers showing off for the camera in the early morning hours on August 15, just prior to being denuded with scissors:

(on the front porch)

(and this is on ONE volunteer, flowering cosmos plant; note it is trying to overtake the deliberately planted garden squash)

For basic dying principles, refer back to the Polish Granddaughter's post about dyeing with marigolds.  I substituted half cosmos and half marigold flowers, simmering for an hour to achieve this color in the dye pot.

Yellow yarn on the right, derived from cosmos and marigold dye, a bottle of yellow food coloring and half a bottle of citron acid dye. That wool resisted taking on a yellow hue, to say the least.  It is a wonder it did not felt amidst the process of all that stove top simmering.

This is the When In Scotland garter shawl.  It needs more of the lighter color green alternated with the lime green, then ending with the yellow cosmos colored wool. Figuring there is no rush on finishing the knitting (it is to be 97 degrees F today), I will add the new yellow for the last bold stripe, then finish with the teal color. 


On the Julie front, she is encountering a few more medical issues. Nothing is insurmountable, in her mind, for achieving independence in her own apartment in 2016.  We manicure her nails thrice weekly, play Word Chums and Words With Friends night and day via our iPads, and lunch together daily outside at the gazebo at Mesa Manor Rehab and Nursing Home. We also play a card game or two if she can tear herself away from the computer word games.

The husband does his part and brings the dogs to Julie for a pet at least twice a week. Julie has a remarkable and resilient spirit and has continually taught me about the universality of love.  Her birthday approaches in early September, and her abiding life cannot help but be inspirational despite her obstacles.

Bark if You Love Julie!

Oban, Glencoe, West Highland Lochs and Castles

We took a coach with 16 passengers for a ten hour drive through the western highlands of Scotland.  John McDermott was our guide.  Doesn't he look handsome in his kilt?

John gave us lots of historical information about clan rivalries and slaughters in prior centuries.   He entertained with traditional music while driving when not dispensing jokes and stories. 

We took in Kilchurn Castle, in the historic village of Inveraray.  This is the castle, dating back to the 1600's.

Foxgloves were growing in the wild around the castle.

We gathered wool from the gorse around the castle, compliments of many black faced sheep.

We had fresh, and I mean fresh off the boat fresh, fish and chips in Oban for lunch and walked around this sea side town.  The fish was light and delicious!  We then drove through the western highlands and pictures will be forthcoming of that area.  The heather was blooming early this year, and some pictures of the reddish purple flowers will be included when I get home to download them from the camera.

Oban by the water at low tide:

A day in Glasgow and Paisley, Scotland

This morning started off with a traditional breakfast at our hotel in downtown Glasgow:  bangers, eggs, fresh breads, croissants, butter, marmalade, hot tomatoes and mushrooms, juices, fruits, cheeses and cold salami and very strong coffee. 

After that light little breakfast, we waddled off to our coach to spend a day visiting Sma' Shot Cottages in nearby Paisley.  The cottages were built in the 1700's.  Our guides explained the harsh conditions the weavers who lived in this area (and in the actual homes the 25 in our group were led through).  Docents in this historical site explained the lives of these workers.  Not only did the weavers made the cloth, but they also dyed their yarns from the garden plants grown by their community efforts.  It was usual that the weavers worked 18 hours a day, six days of the week.  They made so little money from their work that they could not afford clothes worthy to be worn at church.

These families often had 12 or more children, and lived in a two room shot gun house with other generational family members.  No electricity, a fire in the major room where they cooked food in their fireplace, ate only inches away from the fire, and also slept here, perhaps ten or twelve in this common room.  No bathrooms, and chamber pots that were emptied outside the front window onto the pedestrian pathway.

A weaver foreman might have a four room cottage for his family.  I doubt these workers had any sort of finery, but these hand made christening gowns were hung on a wall to display christening dresses from that era, but again, were available and used only by the wealthy.

Back to the garden.  This is a picture of foxglove which was used for dyeing.  It is growing in the heirloom garden which was in existence all the way back three centuries ago.

We had a lunch provided by the volunteers and then moved on to the Paisley Museum, opened in 1871.  That museum has about 1,400 paisley shawls in its archives.

See another blog post from Mary at www.ladybugspinning.blogspot.com.  Mary has a lot more pictures and writes well about our shared common experience viewing and learning about the original looms.

Tomorrow is a coach ride through the windswept Scottish highlands. Heather and gorse grown there and perhaps we can get some good pictures of these areas.

This is my first time to use Mobile Blogger, and it seems to be a fairly user friendly app.

Harris Tweed Making a Comeback

Harris Tweed is making a resurgence.

What is Harris Tweed?  Wikipedia says

Harris Tweed is a cloth that has been handwoven by islanders at their homes in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, finished in the Outer Hebrides, and made from pure virgin wool dyed and spun in the Outer Hebrides. 

Harris Tweed is protected by the Harris Tweed Act of Parliament 1993,^[1] which strictly outlines the conditions in which the cloth can genuinely be made. 

Authentic Harris Tweed is issued with the Harris Tweed Orb Mark, the United Kingdom's oldest registered trademark,^[2] after inspection by the Harris Tweed Authority, the industry's governing body.

There is a link to a BBC video that was of great interest to me because 20 fiber enthusiasts (including moi) will be there in just two weeks to visit at least one weaver's shop, that of Donald John Mackay.

Go HERE to see the video (no embedding, with just a short commercial prior to the video). This is a picture of weaver Donald Mackay at work, NOT a live link:

and another picture on the island of Harris, with Mr. Mackay's weaving shed in the background: so picturesque!

Joyce James, the tour guide for our trip to the Scottish Isles, says about this video:

 It was good to see weaver, Donald John Mackay, at his loom in his weaving shed overlooking Luskentyre Beach. We'll be visiting Donald John next month as part of the 2013 Scottish Skeins tour. Travellers from past tours have thoroughly this stop. In fact, it's been difficult to get them to leave his shed and little shop.

Despite tough economic times, the Harris tweed industry is proving as resilient as the cloth which takes its name.

It has been making a big impact in global fashion, and recently took home two prizes from the UK Fashion and Textiles Awards.

source

July In Scotland

Last September I started looking into fiber related tours to the UK.  Fiber as in wool for knitting, not fiber as in lentils or grains for digestive purposes.

Three years ago I went on a CraftLit tour to London, Bath and Wales with Heather Ordover and 24 other fiber/literature enthusiasts and had a wonderful time.  See my video of that tour here.   Being a fiber, yarn and wool hog, I wanted another tour to explore even more of the UK and learn about the origins of some of the fibers I so love.

Doing some internet research last year, I found Joyce James and her tour into Scotland and the Shetland islands (the outer islands north of the mainland).  The Tour I decided on was James' 16th annual one into these fascinating ancient places and is called "Scottish Skeins and Skerries"; you can read all about it here.  The group is small (20 people) and was booked up by last December, so I am very happy my reservation was booked last Thanksgiving.

A few facts about the tour:

• Daylight hours will be close to 19 hours a day
• The outermost northern island visited is only about 150 miles south of the Arctic Circle
• Glasgow is the origination point in the tour, 8 hr. ahead of MST
• the time frame of the tour is from July 3-22, 2013
• average temperature for July will be from 50-62 degrees F with lots of rain!

 

In addition to visiting Glasgow and Kilbarchan with its historical Weaver's Cottage restored by the National Trust and nearby Paisley (a textile historical area with shawls, of course), a few places we will visit to the north of the mainland of Scotland will be:

• Lerwick (a featured town in Ann Cleeves' mystery crime series of books) and Jamieson & Smith
• Scalloway with a museum dedicated to the participants of the Shetland Bus operation during WWII.  That operation and a quick history of those fishing boats can be found here.
• visiting a working croft (The Burland Croft)
• the Shetland Guild, including meeting with curator Dr. Carol Christiansen, and the Shetland Museum
• tours of the islands of Unst and Yell, the most northerly islands in the U.K. (we will see the Muckle Flugga Lighthouse
  
• Orkney Island, where I especially want to see the St. Magnus Cathedral founded in 1137
• the Outer Hebrides, including Lewis and Harris islands.  The Hebridean Celtic music Festival will be playing.  Look here for more information about that Celtic music festival.
• weaving sheds, crofts, textile dyers, historical experts, (lions and tigers and bears, OH MY! with apologies to the Wizard)

Joyce James has sent an extensive reading list in order for the tour group to be somewhat versed in the Scottish culture.  So far I have read or will read prior to July 3:

• The Crofter and the Laird by John McPhee (excellent!)
• The Shetland Bus (David Howarth) (good history)
• perused A Traveller's History of Scotland (Andrew Fisher)
• Sea Room, An Island Life in the Hebrides (Adam Nicolson) (not finished yet)
• Between Weathers (an excellent suggestion by Annie of the Knitsofacto blog) by McMillen (excellent, also)
• all of Alexander McCall Smith's 44 Scotland Street Series of books (very Edinburgh)
• The House with Green Shutters (George D. Brown) (did not like so much)
• Ann Cleeves series, of which I have read two: Black Raven and White Nights (am now a fan girl of Cleeves)

So that is it in a nutshell.  Woot!

Oh, and we get to see puffins up close and personal on the tour.  Here is a cute picture of a puffin, courtesy of Bing.

I am finishing up a wool sweater I want to take to Scotland and it should be finished today.  Pictures of the knitted cardigan tomorrow (if that last cuff gets knit) on Finished Objects Friday.