elsewhere

I've been reading Liesl's gorgeous blog since the spring, having first stumbled upon it whilst searching for a recipe for natural dyeing with walnut husks. Since then, I've been enjoying reading her adventures as she takes her first steps in rearing chickens, watching her progress in her monthly sock knitting challenge and of course finding endless inspiration (and helpful hints) in her experimentations with natural dyes.

I was delighted (and honoured!) to be asked to participate in her 3 questions series...you can read my answers over here!

nougèr (spun)

After spinning and plying, I dyed the finished yarn using a natural plant dye prepared from the late summer leaves of the walnut tree, “nougèr” in the local dialect.

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"nougèr"

Ingredients: 32g of washed and carded wool. The fibre used was white Berrichon du Cher, from Gèdre.

Spinning: Two singles spun from rolags in the Z direction, using a semi-worsted technique. 

Plying: two singles plied in the S direction until balanced. 

Finishing: Wound off into a skein, washed and dried weighted to set the ply. Naturally dyed with foraged walnut leaves.

Quantity: 30g giving 32m of finished yarn

WPI: 9

Yarn Weight: DK

elergy for a walnut tree

Old friend now there is no one alive
who remembers when you were young
it was high summer when I first saw you
in the blaze of day most of my life ago
with the dry grass whispering in your shade
and already you had lived through wars
and echoes of wars around your silence
through days of parting and seasons of absence
with the house emptying as the years went their way
until it was home to bats and swallows
and still when spring climbed toward summer
you opened once more the curled sleeping fingers
of newborn leaves as though nothing had happened
you and the seasons spoke the same language
and all these years I have looked through your limbs
to the river below and the roofs and the night
and you were the way I saw the world

WS Merwin
From The Moon Before Morning 

les chemins de la laine

De retour d'un week-end ensoléillé, riche en rencontres, en échanges et en découvertes. 

Un week-end à tisser des liens d'amitié entre tricoteuses, feutrières, teinturières, tisserandes, éléveuses de brébis, fileuses et fileurs... 

...à papoter en trois langues...

 ...à refaire le monde, autour de la laine...

 

...et à peaufiner mes compétences de cardage de la laine, en occitan.

Je reviens ressourcée, inspirée, apaisée, la tête pleine d'idées et l'esprit plein de soleil...

Just back from a magical, sunny weekend: making new friendships and exchanging ideas with a fantastic group of local hand knitters, felters, hand-dyers, weavers, sheep farmers and spinners. 

We've spent the last two days building new friendships...

 ...babbling in three languages...

 ....putting the world to rights, through the medium of wool...

...and (for me!) improving my handcarding skills, in Occitan... 

I'm back home recharged, uplifted and inspired...

buttercup (hand-spun)

This was my first time experimenting with turmeric. I was hoping to produce a mustard-yellow yarn (I've got a burning desire to knit some mustard colour mittens for the autumn...). It ended up more like a buttercup, but I'm very happy nonetheless - especially with the heather effect I achieved by "tie-dying" the skein. 

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"Buttercup"

Ingredients: 70g of washed and carded wool. The fibre used was white Barégeoise from Gèdre.

Spinning: Two singles spun from rolags in the Z direction, using the woollen technique.  

Plying: two singles plied in the S direction until balanced. 

Finishing: Wound off into a skein, washed and dried weighted to set the ply.

Dyeing:  natural turmeric, dyed in the skein (tied up with elastic bands)

Quantity: 70g giving 220m of finished yarn

 

chestnut husks (natural dyed)

In the kitchen, the scent of freshly brewed coffee hung in the air. On the hob, the chestnuts are simmering happily. We rest our tired legs under the table and from the window we can see the billowing clouds hanging low in the valley.

The timer buzzes and drags me from my revery. The chestnuts are done, my coffee cup is empty. It's time to dye some yarn...

I prepare the dye bath as I would if I were to use walnut shells. I boil the shells for about an hour to obtain the dye bath, removing the husks and adding a good dose of white vinegar once the concoction had cooled a little. Then I plunge a skein of damp yarn into the saucepan.

After bringing it once more to the boil, I gently simmer the bath for over an hour. Once the water has sufficiently cooled, I rinse the skein in luke warm water (to avoid felting!) until the water runs clear. 

I'm left with a fabulously smelling skein of yarn in a warm brown tone. I'm rather pleased by the results of my first attempt at natural dyeing...and can't wait to get something onto the needles!  

that old chestnut

After many days of sunshine, we wake to a rather overcast Sunday. The chill in the air is accompanied by gentle rain showers. We pull on a jumper and decide to go with it, pretending it is Autumn rather than early Summer. 

We remember a kilo of foraged chestnuts, lying dormant in the freezer since late autumn. We turn on the radio, take out our pen knives and set to work, side by side.

 

No matter what method you use, preparing foraged chestnuts is always a labour of love. We tend to chill (or freeze) them first for at least an hour before starting. Using a strong, sharp knife, we cut them in half from top to bottom. Then we plunge them into boiling water for about ten minutes before draining and removing the nuts with a paring knife. It helps to keep the nuts warm as we work, as this helps the skins to come off. Once all the nuts are skinned, they then go back into a saucepan covered with water to simmer for about half an hour until tender. 

As we tend to eat mainly vegetarian (and at the moment without both gluten and dairy products too!) chestnuts are one of our favourite wild ingredients. Unlike other nuts, they are lower in oil and protein but higher in starch, which makes them a useful addition to cakes and savoury loaves, including our favourite wild chestnut and mushroom loaf from our French Vegetarian cookery bible: Ma cuisine végétarienne pour tous les jours by Garance Leureux (Editions La Plage). 

500g of wild chestnuts in their skins will yield about 350g once prepared. And what to do with all those left over husks...?

busy hands

We're now back in our valley home, after a few weeks away. Lately, fatigue has been becoming more and more a heavy weight around my neck. Not the everyday tiredness that comes from leading a hectic life. Nor the Sunday morning sluggishness and lethargy be-known to students brought on by one too many sugary cups of coffee, frequent late nights or not enough fresh vegetables. Rather an exhaustion that greets you when you wake in the morning, that a good night sleep won't lift. A tiredness so consuming it seeps into your bones, that could drain away all happiness if you let it do so.

Just a few short months ago, I was a teacher and translator. Working for myself from home. Weaving together words and untangling muddled syntax. It feels like another life ago. I've been off work since March, too ill to work. And as this current rough seems to be showing no sign of abating, looks like I'll be taking the rest of the summer off too.

As we try to navigate our way back to that path of wellness, my days have been stripped back to the essential. Eating wholesome food. Fresh air. Long sleeps. Deep breaths.

Foraging in the woods helps. Picnics in the sunshine helps. Spending time with friends helps. And above all, keeping my hands busy helps.