Snow and Indigo

It’s been so beautiful and snowy in Lunenburg. I never feel quite safe confessing that I love winter, so please don’t tell anyone. I know that winter can be tough on many people and there’s nothing worse than that cheerful snow lover when you want to pull the blankets over your head until Spring, so I try to keep my opinions on this matter quiet. (How am I doing?)

It’s all about colour and its absence. Maybe it has something to do with living in Lunenburg. I just love how the colourful houses or laundry hanging on the lines looks against winter’s muted background.

Hard to believe this is not a black and white photos. I do still see colour, even in these landscapes. Often it’s a soft green or blue reflected on the snow or a streak of colour on the horizon.

…and there are flowers if you know where to find them.

When I need to bump up the saturation I turn to natural dyeing. This witch’s cauldron is my Indigo vat. I had two friends who expressed interest in learning about Indigo dyeing, so we made an afternoon of it.

This is Inbal. Micheline is hiding behind the camera. Both of these gals are incredible artists. You can see Inbal’s work HERE and Micheline’s work HERE. The three of us are all equally nerdy about textiles, fashion history, all things slow, so the chatter never stopped. I’m so lucky to be in a community filled with so much talent.

My personal mission was to achieve greens and the only way to get green is to first get yellow. Different plants will achieve different shades of yellow, which in turn will give you a different shade of blue. This yellow skein was first dyed with Marigolds.

After one dip in the Indigo vat I got beautiful moss greens.

These skeins were first dyed with Weld. It never gets old. I’m delighted every time I watch the Indigo do its magic. I have claimed one of these skeins for my own selfish sock knitting purposes and my neighbour called dibs on another skein. If I can get my act together I will post some of these in my web shop for anyone else who might like to bring some Indigo into their winter.

Hope you are able to get out into the winter. So much beauty to be had. Bundle up.