To Dye For
Those of you interested in herbs both culinary, medicinal and just plain useful might like to visit www.abouthyme.com which is the home of the fictional China Bayles mysteries by Susan Wittig Albert.
The books feature the eponymous China Bayles who quit her law practice to run a herbal garden and gift store and who with her flamboyant, crystal gazing and occasionally clairvoyant friend Ruby solves local murders and mysteries. Sounds a bit famous five I know but they are well written, interesting and entertaining books, each one focusing on a particular herbal theme and usually containing a few interesting herbal recipes and folklore and sometimes a few spinning and dyeing themes. However you don't have to read the books to appreciate the web site. There's a good lot of culinary and medicinal recipes, growing hints and every so often something for spinners and weavers such as the following:
Gold to Dye ForThar's gold in that herb garden! Marigold, that is (Tagetes sp), which dyes wool and silk in shades of yellow and gold.
To dye an ounce of fabric or yarn, start by soaking it while you and your kids go out to the garden and pick an ounce of flowers. Bruise, then place in an old non-reactive pan (one that you don't use for cooking), cover with water and simmer for a half hour, replacing water that boils away. Strain and let cool. Squeeze the water out of the soaked fibre and place in the dye bath. Simmer until the colour is a little darker than you want, then let cool in the dye bath. Rinse and hang in the shade to dry. For a more permanent colour, you'll want to use a mordant, such as alum. Wild Colour, by Jenny Dean, will teach you how to do this, and lots more!"