Hey - I'm Marisa

[Ancient Spinach]

Hi there - I'm Marisa - as my sig says, mama to Sage. I've been knitting for a few years - have completed two wooly wonders in the past few months - and am working on my first pair of shorts. I work from home, so I usually knit in the evenings after Sage gets to sleep.

I have a new-found interest in dyeing naturally, so hopefully I will do some more of that and actually make something out of it!

:)

[pamelamama]

Welcome Marisa!!! I'll put you in the basic wooly wonder pattern support group .. :pink

[CraftyMommaOf2]

Hi! I have really gotten into looking for diff ways to dye naturally as well. I'm really interested in plants and foods. :)

[Meredith]

Hi there!!! :wave

[pamelamama]

I guess when you say food, you don't mean :koolaid

[CraftyMommaOf2]

lol...I use koolaid now for my dyeing and painting, but I would love to get more into all the plants that you can use. I have way too many things that I want to know about right now :roll:

[Arwyn]

You mean :koolaid doesn't count as natural??

:shocked: :shocked: :shocked: :eyes :eyes :eyes :eek :eek :eek

:LOL

[Ancient Spinach]

Fresh squeezed kool-aid: from kool-aid berries...

So - I've successfully dyed with turmeric, begonia flowers, grass, acorn squash peelings, red onion skins, beets... Mostly shades of brown... I really need to use some different materials - I'm getting a bit discouraged by all of the brown...

[CraftyMommaOf2]

Here are two sites I've found so far...haven't gotten to read much, but:

http://www.allfiberarts.com/cs/dyeplants.htm

http://www.urbaneagle.com/ue/ue-dyebooks.html

:love

[Ancient Spinach]

Thanks for the websites, Crafty Momma!

BTW - I wrote a quick outline/overview of natural dyeing for a horticulture class I took last quarter... It has a lot of good sources on it. I posted it here (http://woolywonder.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=521#521).

[Susan_WW]

Hi Marisa! Welcome :)

[CraftyMommaOf2]

Ok Marisa...I gotta say...URINE???? LMAO! The pic that pops in my head when I think of using urine as a mordant for dyeing. :lol: I love it! Great write up, btw :love

[danaTCT]

:w

8)

[Ancient Spinach]

URINE????

I know...Kool Aide doesn't seem quite so gross as an alternative... Urine may be natural, but.... <shudder> do I really want to handle it that much....I don't think I'll be experimenting with urine - even if it's free...

[ladydemetreis]

Welcome!! :knit