Portland yarn in Aran, 3ply.
I have used alder cones to achieve two colours, with darker iron-alder patches and lighter golden alder patches.
Alder cones.
We have so many beautiful alder trees here on our farm and they range from two years old to about 15.
They love to stand with their feet in water, which is lucky as our fields have plenty!
I had a very relaxed day (apart from the bit directly after the double coffee) with a very good friend and Jenny Deane's dye book.
I've dyed with alder a few times and have loved it's golden hues.
I added these skeins to the exhaust dye pots to get a stunning silvery grey from the iron pot, with the other side of the skeins in the non iron pot, and it looks like the sun and the moon.
January blues can be tough, the mud can get tiring, the dark seeps in to your bones but there is sunshine in the alder tree and in good company.
#naturaldye #plantdye #treedye #plantdyedwool #alder #aldertree #ethnobotany #hedgebotherer #mud