Carrot Top Pot

It did not take me too long to jump into another natural dye pot.  This go round I dug around in the veggie bin and came up with a bundle of carrot tops!

I again used 200 grams or 7 ounces of yarn.  To mordant, I simmered it for about 2 hours with 20 grams of Alum and 10 grams of Cream of Tartar.  While the yarn was set to mordant, I had the carrot tops in another crock simmering their little green tops out while in a mesh bag.

Once the yarn was finished in the mordant, it was rinsed and then added to the crock with the simmering carrot tops.  This pot was simmered for about 3-4 hours to ensure the natural dyes were well and absorbed.  This time, I did not let it sit over night.

I am very happy with this pretty little pale yellow yarn that resulted from my second attempt at natural dying.   It is much, MUCH prettier than the grey from Monday's post;)

Miss Kitty had to get a piece of the action too!  She is all about being the center of attention when we are outside.  And who can blame her.  If I were that cute, I would demand to be the center of everyone's world too!

I know you like the pretty flower, but I'm here too!!  Meow!!

I pose pretty for you too!

Garden 2011

I haven't had much time for posting due to shows and getting ready for shows between shows;) The next show you will find LunabudKnits is the Midwest Fiber and Folkart Festival outside of Chicago June 24-26.

I had a moment to take a few pictures of this years garden as Bill was finishing up his little project. He tells me stories of the 'lettuce box' they had as a child and how they would go out pull up the old door and pick some lettuce for dinner every day. The other day, he comes home with an old storm door someone was throwing away and wood. a few days later, he has his 'lettuce box'. I have to say that he did a very nice job on the construction of the box. Do I honestly think the lettuce will grow in a humid little glass box in the middle of summer? Let's just say, erm, how do I put this nicely..... I think I will sow more lettuce seeds in the fall. And, it should make for a great seed starter in late winter early spring;)

Bill finishing up his lettuce box

Lid open

Seeds

Lid closed

Miss Kitty supervises

Sweet Basil

Cematis

Cactus

Cactus

Delphinium

Delphinium Flower

lettuce seed I started a few weeks ago.

Miss Kitty follows where ever we go.

Sunday Bloopers

Well, in all honesty they really aren't bloopers. I just thought the title sounded cute;) Sunday was a day of semi-organization and gardening.

Our neighbors are re-landscaping their yard and this pretty much consists of ripping out every single flower. I got some day lilies and iris's which are now planted along the back fence. The blooms have promptly died off, but that's OK they should be gorgeous next year;) Our tomato plants are officially taller than me and full of green tomatoes with the exception of the black cherry tomato which produces 3-6 little cherries faithfully every week. I'm sure it would produce way more except I decided to plant it in a pot as the tomato bed was running out of room. Planted another little red cherry from some seeds that bill sprouted a few weeks ago. Not to worried about it being late in the season as cherries grow like weeds!

I also created flowers of a different sort using a polyester satin. I'm sure you know that when heat is applied to polyester it melts and normally not in a pretty way. That is the main reason why I avoid wearing polyester. But, when the melt is controlled in a well ventilated area, you can make the prettiest of poppies.

Finally, I organized my spin-ins basket. It is full of tulle, ribbons, beads, flowers, flower petals, fabric strips, fun fur, eyelash yarn, pom-poms and a few other fun bits that escape my mind right now. Had to re-organize because I made a trip to Hobby Lobby and got way more fun stuff than a girl actually needs. You can see examples of what I do with fun stuff in my previous posts about the Tour de Fleece Projects 2 & 3.

The Yard

We have spent the past few days doing quite a bit of yard work. I don't have pictures up of all the work we have done and of course we are no where near finished. But we have a good start going on around the house.

Over the next few weeks, we are planning the following: Till up a garden on the right side of the house for our heirloom tomatos we started back in January. These include but are not limited to: Persimmon, Mr. Stripey, Hawaiian Pineapple, Goliath, Mortgage Lifter, etc. Finish digging out the remainder of the old landscaping and replace with some nice uniform shrubs and trees. Last but not least..... We are wanting to put a larger deck on the back of the house with a smaller patio below for the walk out door of the basement.

You think we might be trying to be a tad over ambitious? LOL

The face pots.

I will not take down my favorite Halloween pumpkin. He's just so cute in a tormented kind of way:)

View of the front porch. The bushes under the three windows will be dug out hopefully this week end to make way for and ever green shrub that will retain some green through the winter. The little red maple use to be on the left corner of the house near where the new tree below is.

New Japanese Maple. Darn if I don't just adore the foliage on these trees!

Mixed pots are so pretty. I think I have had these pots for about 10 years now. Well these and countless others that are in the garage and back yard....lol