Dreams of Black Walnut Dyeing

      I've been in Upstate New York at my daughter's "new" old house (1830) for over a week.  My husband and son (a carpenter down from Maine) came to do some fix-it-jobs and started with an old wall with the intention of stopping a leak and ended up ripping the wall out, plus the next one out.  Layers of rot.  Wall gone and rebuilding commenced.  My biggest contribution is baking tons of desserts.  I've tried to introduce some healthy desserts from Chocolate Covered Katie (links below if you love chocolate like I do).

      Everyday I knit (finished another washcloth for my daughter), bake and often disappear to lie on the next door lawn of a vacant house, doing back exercises (this video is close to what I do, but no pillow), partially borrowed from yoga, to feel better (my back pain disappears when I do this).  But I also find peace just stopping to stare at the trees.  Now you have to understand Colorado where I live has trees, but not like this.  These are huge, soaring and old.  Yesterday I discovered one of those trees is a black walnut with light green orbs gracing the yard.  I had obsessed last year thinking about how I wanted to dye with these.  A beautiful brown it makes.  But where to find black walnuts?  Yeah!  Found.  So I'm packing a small bag away of green black walnuts and later today we get on a train for a two day trip home to Colorado.

     I'd been doing research on Black Walnut dyeing.  Here's one blog that has good instructions - Fiber Artsy

Fiber Artsy

     Meanwhile, I'm still reading the mystery series by Nevada Barr about the park ranger Anna Pigeon.  I back tracked to #4 "Firestorm", which I'd have to agree with the inside cover's reviews which describe it as her best, so far.  But I've loved and enjoyed each one.  This plot has Anna as law enforcement and medic with a team of summer woodland firefighters drawn from different National Parks.  A sudden firestorm happens, flashes over her group.  A dead body is found, so a murder happened in the midst, or right before or after the firestorm.  And now Anna is stuck on the mountain, in snow, a man dying of injuries and one of them is a murderer. She proceeds to figure out who and to keep the team alive as well.

KAL Hats for Migrants!

Next week Wednesday, August 28th I'll reveal my basic hat pattern for the September 1st KAL.  We're knitting (or crocheting) hats for Asylum Seekers in Asylum Cities in the Northeast.  Any pattern and style will do, I'm just creating a simple hat based on an old how-to post that I'll also share so anyone can change it around, make their hats a different size or go fancy with stranded knitting.  There will be prizes awarded from skeins of yarn, a project bag and a night at a bed and breakfast!  If you want to be in the contests you have to wait to begin knitting September 1st, and the KAL will run till October 20th.  Stay tuned.  More details to come up on this blog next Wednesday and in Ravelry's group Resistance Knitters.

Come Join Us at Unraveled Wednesday

Chocolate Covered Katie's Recipes:

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Chocolate No Bake Cookies

Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Bars

And I wanted to make this but ran out of time:

Chocolate Oatmeal Fudge Bars