Natural Plant Dyeing: Adding a fabulous new orange to the palette with Bidens

Towards the end of last year, as leaves tuned colour, the weather turned colder and frost threatened some tender dye plants, I began to plan some more dyeing experiments; a combination of trying to replicate previous colours and discover new ones. This potential for new colours comes as we explore further what plants will thrive in our clay soil, and in hot dry summers that can transition to cold waterlogged winters overnight, or in the … More Natural Plant Dyeing: Adding a fabulous new orange to the palette with Bidens

Wandering Lyonnaise I

It seems that I failed to mention that the Wedding for which I knitted the ‘Wedding Cardigan’ was in Lyon. Whilst we’ve driven around Lyon’s one way system many times, and nearly got the car towed by accidentally parking overnight in a car park that was the site of the next day’s market, we’ve generally only passed through with a briefest of stop-offs. Mostly we pass through on our way back from Italy, stopping off overnight, … More Wandering Lyonnaise I

A Darwinian Hybrid

One of the nicest things about having an allotment is seeing things re-emerge in spring bringing colour back to the plot. For me this means seeing the ‘Cowslips’ flower and provide nourishment for the bees as they emerge from their winter sleep. Cowslips are a particular favourite of mine. They transport me back to my childhood growing up in Dorset where the chalky hills around our village would take on a yellowy hue an I would … More A Darwinian Hybrid