[Fennel]
[Sweet Basil]
{Vlademere]
[TR aka the-little-ball-of-fury]
Author: jamie_work_admin
the Ubiquitious Basil Baby Blankets are frogged back to square-whatsits
I put aside other knitting projects in order to finish the Basil Baby blankets before the twins go off to college. (They recently celebrated their 2nd birthday.) Going along fine until I started looking at other completed Basil blankets (on Ravelry) and realized that I had managed to knit up the borders (- count two – both sets of borders – ) incorrectly (backwards, insideout, don’t ask) and had myself a lesson in careful frogging. Now back on track and I may yet complete this project before the college going away party….
Druid Plant Oracle, finishing baby blankets, stuff
I don’t generally buy stuff for myself this time of the year. I enjoy picking things out for people in my life or making the thing(s) myself. In fact there are a couple of scarves I should be working on at this moment and then there are the ubiquitous Basil baby blankets that need completed borders. 
The excuse here is that the combination of art and herbalism got to me. My copy of the Druid Plant Oracle arrived today. It wasn’t available locally so I can’t say I ran out and bought it but had to run to my computer, order online and wait.
First off, I’m not an experienced tarot reader (and this isn’t actually a tarot deck). I have my well-worn SMITH-ryder-waite deck for personal use and that’s the extent of my experience.
Secondly, I know next to nothing about Druids, ancient or modern.
But I think I can say I have a decent grasp of dye plants and am interested in botanical pharmacology. Included among the images are plants any dyer would love: Madder, Woad, Plantain and Yarrow. Before I saw the leaves, I thought the image on the cover was Oxalis but it’s Primrose. Lots of the standard medicinals: Clover (Red), Chamomile, Comfrey and the like.
Good bibliography and a list of plants by common, Gaelic and botanical names. And the images are gorgeous. (Can’t emphasize that part enough.) Also included are three blank cards so you an add your own plants. (Right now I think I’m planning on Fennel, Oxalis and Cotton.)
Got an herbalist or dyer in your life? Perfect gift. If the herbalist/dyer is into Celtic history and mythology, even better. And the images are gorgeous.
Deck developed by: Philip and Stephanie Carr-Gomm.
Illustrations by: Will Worthington.
They also designed a Druid Animal Oracle deck and a Celtic themed tarot. 
What is the deck like to read with? Don’t know (yet). I’m still into the accompanying book. Perhaps see the review over at the Aeclectic Tarot site.
However, if my maternal grandmother is an example, one can read with any sort of deck, even a standard playing card set that has a weird poodle design on the backs.
Here is the back story. My mother’s mother was not into anything remotely metaphysical or new age-ish. She was a fanatically conservative Catholic slightly to the right of Savanrola (alternatively see Spanish Inquisition). But bizzarly, conversely, she also “read”, if you can call it that, from the afore mentioned standard playing cards.
As far as I could tell, she did not read using any traditional method or symbol set. They functioned as a jumping off point when she was inclined to pick up things. At that she was annoyingly accurate. Her readings occasionally precipitated a phone call from my mother. Usually because my grandmother – should she think something was up with me – would badger her daughter (my mother) until Mom called me to check in.
So, long digression aside, yes – if it fits your practice you probably can read with this deck. And the images are gorgeous.
First Wood Sorrel/Oxalis of the season
My standard yellow dye plants are Fennel (for wool) and Oxalis (cotton, wool, soy silk).
The first Oxalis opened up a few days ago. Locally the Fennel produces through most through what would be our Summer months (Pacific, southwest USA), starts to dry and dies out around Autumn. Following that the Wood Sorrel/Oxalis starts up, runs rampant through the Winter into Spring and dies out towards summer when the Fennel starts up again.
This being southern California the seasons are hot and dry, and really hot and dry punctuated by a furious rain storm or two. In fact, left to itself I am guessing much this area would be more desert like. (In case one forgets this idea, having a car breakdown in the San Fernando Valley, in July, around high noon, is a heck of a wakeup call…) Most of the years I grew up here the weather was at least consistant with itself but lately has gotten incresingly volitile (and just plain wierd).
Otherwise, the cotton is still opening and some smaller (cotton) plants have been started for next year.
Backyard fiber plants: Cotton
I have always loved weaving with cotton, done some dyeing and wanted to learn to spin it. Growing it also seemed to fit in there someplace. With my usual cart-before-the-horseness I started growing cotton before I was actually able to manage the spinning part. Brown grew ok, the green kept dying off but the white, aparantly Pima cotton took off enthuastically.
2008 cotton, a 2nd year plant.
Rita Buchanan’s Weavers Garden lists 150–180 frost-days and 80’-100’ F as required for cotton growing, which is pretty well covered in southern California. Any bolls that don’t finish opening I bring in the house and leave out on the stove or someplace warm and they open up a few days later.
I’ve frequently heard the question about wheter cotton is an annual or bi-annual. I don’t know the official answer on this one. Some years ago the Fall 1996 (vol. XX, no.3) issue of Spin-off published an article by Mary Frances Eves, “All from one plant” which among other things describes cotton plants she let continue from year to year until they became trees that she “had to harvest with a ladder” (Spin-off, p.49). This sounded interesting so I let some plants go to see what would happen.
What happened was the “shrubs” became trees, had to be harvested by ladder, overgrew the clothes line and a good chunk of the garden before they had to be chopped down (by my long suffering partner who kept making references to some or other episode of Dr. Who that involved a town-eating plant that was the “size of a cathedral” or something along those lines). I’m still not sure of the official answer to the annual/bi-annual question but left to themselves my own plants seem to be able to coninue from year to year.
Indigo vats and landing in fields
About twenty years ago I was taking a “commuter flight” – that is a really small plane, brown bag carry-on lunches – from New York City to Washington DC. The two guys in the seats in front of me were swapping air plane stories which always seemed to end with “and then we landed in a field”. This is somewhat like my Indigo vat dyeing experience except that my stories would end with “and then the vat didn’t work”.
After my beginners luck Fennel experience Indigo put me in my place. I’ve taken enough extension anthropology and archaeology classses to be aware that textile technology goes really far back in human history. Indigo is one of the more technologically complicated processes – reduction – and I frankly can’t imagine how we came up with it.
(As an aside see Elizabeth Barber’s “Prehistoric Textiles: the development of cloth in the Neolithic and Bronze Ages”. Interesting quotes from angry Sumerian business women proving that freelances have never been paid on time since the dawn of history. And, we have spend alot of time either killing each other or dyeing cloth.)
Two major mistakes which hopefully will save someone else time and tears.
First: use the right chemicals. I misktanly used Urea instead of Spectralite. (Vat doesn’t work.)
Second: DON’T get the vat too hot. Wierd scum on top of vat. (Vat sort of works.)
End of Fennel Season
Dye plants work on their own time tables, ignoring (my) schedule, day job hours and other relivant interruptions which may be why I prefer using dry-ables. The Fennel seems to be going into its die-off cycle. Fortunately its one of those dye plants that seems to work just as well fresh or dried and I have enough stocked up for what passes as Winter in California. And, about the time that the Fennel is finished the Oxalis will probably be reappearing.
It would probably sound great to say I grow all my own dye plants but I certainly don’t – lack of space for starters. I probably have sufficient garden space to grow dye to cover sock toes. The Fennel (yellow dye), until I transplanted it into the yard, I used to chase around town ahead of the weed abatement people. The Oxalis (the other yellow) appeared on its own and refused to leave. Since both of these work well fresh or dry I can save and dry for the season and have enough to dye beyond the sock toes.
Otherwise I rely on things that are going to be tossed out – Onion peels, lawn grass and Eucalyptus leaves for example. I have grown Maddar but again its hard to grow enough for an extensive dye project so I buy that dried. I have to Woad plants going this year but again that probably toe coverage so the Woad and Indigo are also purchased dry.
My little overdye experiment – the Knitpicks sock blank – has some Oxalis (yard), Maddar and Indigo. This is also my first time knitting toe-up, two-at-once socks.
Lastly, this is the new wordpress version of the dye blog.
Knitpicks Sock Blank and Dye Plants
After following the Knitpicks sock blank knit-alongs and dye-alongs I decided to try one myself using dye plants.
Knitpicks sock blank. Starting with an overnight soak and standard Alum bath.
Start with Oxylas. The sock blank soaked up the dye incredibly well. I underestimated the wicking effect and lost the white spots. For the next one it mgiht be interesting to try with some dry areas.
Overdye with Maddar.
Some ‘saddening’ with Iron and Copper to tone down the yellow.
Last the Indigo overdye.
I am a total convert to the Magic Loop method of sock knitting but have never tried two at once or toe up. The pattern is good but I was somewhat confused at the beginning. Once over that hurddle I think the rest will be fairly straight forward.
Woad: woad and ‘volunteer’ basil
The woad continues growing out and now up. In one of the pots some volunteer basil appeard, which means Pesto sauce as well as blue dye.
I wasn’t sure how the particular plant would manage in a hot, dry (Southern California) climate. It seemed to start out slow last fall and really took off around the beginning of summer.
Should anyone else be interested, here are a couple of Woad sites:
Woad Inc
Rowan’s Woad Page
Yahoo Group: woadgrowers
Loom upgrade continued (fixing the floating harness problem)
Since the “loom upgrade” or adding the 4 extra harnesses to my LeClerc Minerva I’ve run into what I’ve seen described as a common problem with jack looms and 6+ harnesses – the floating harnesses. The LeClerc site suggested adding weights. Wandering around my local hardware store I found something that seems to work. I’m not sure what they are or are actually for but now are loom harness weights.
So far this seems to be solving the problem. I don’t know if anyone else has had any experience with this? Solved in any other manner?