Dye Garden: Extracting Color from Nature

Accidental Dye Garden: Cochineal in the Backyard!

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne Rodriguez) — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 21:02:00 +0000

My retired parents live in the same house since 1961 in Indio, CA. Indio is nestled in the heart of the Coachella Valley just South-East of Palm Springs and 2 hours East of Los Angeles. Surrounded by a few mountain ranges; it sits just one hour north of the Mexico/California border. It is part of the Colorado desert, the location is very hot during the summer with mild winters.

My father has worked his whole life as a horticulturist for some of the nicest mid-century houses, banks, and city buildings in Palm Springs. As a child I remember the backyard filled with exotic plants and gardening tools. Plants that were not used for the projects stayed at our house and were planted.

As an adult with a natural dyeing background, returning to my child hood home was very exciting. I realized I had grown up in a natural dye buffet.

This is what I saw in my parents backyard with new eyes; a beautiful accidental dye garden! The most notable was a giant cactus that my parents planted a few years ago. This plant is taller than me, maybe 9 feet tall!


Nopales

Here is the exciting discovery! I was poking around looking at the massive cactus when I found Cochineal bugs (Dactylopius coccus) all over! These bugs make a beautiful pink on wool fiber.

Cochineal on the under side of the Nopal leaves

Dye from Cochineal on my fingers from harvesting

Nopal leaves fresh and dried, fruit of cactus, and Cochineal bugs

Funny enough, my father, a gardener, not a dyer, washed the cactus everyday with a strong stream of water to knock of the Cochineal. The Cochineal are pests to the cactus, sucking the sap and killing the leaves. I quickly had him stop washing them off. They are like gold in the natural dyeing industry, with a shortage of bugs constantly a threat to the supply of the natural dyer. Now, I have my mother, collect the bugs in a jar and mail them to me.

The other exciting plant found at my parents house was a giant Pomegranate tree.

Pomegranate Tree

The rinds of the Pomegranate are used to make a deep amber brown color. I have yet to collect them. You can bet, the next time I visit my parents, I will be picking and processing the fruit for dyeing! I will try to post a good picture of what yarn looks like dyed with both soon!

Busy as a bee - Starting the Dye Garden

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne Rodriguez) — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 06:35:00 +0000

Japanese Indigo - Polygonum tinctorum - "Dyer's Knotweed"

Happy Spring!

Oakland is enjoying a sunny break from some unusual stormy weather. This week I took the opportunity to do some gardening at my house and the store. At home I've planted numerous edibles in the front yard of where I live. It is the only house in the neighborhood with a garden in front. It is a classic Victory garden, with many vegetables and helpful plants.

At the A Verb for Keeping Warm garden I planted seeds for Japanese Indigo, Weld, and Madder. I already have a few plants of each, but I hope to expand the garden this summer. It may mean I work on my days off to build more containers, plant seeds, and do general maintenance, but it's well worth it.

The majority of my work at AVFKW compresses or limits my time in the garden. Time management has been a huge hurtle for me, but I plan to devote more time; before and after work. The store has been very busy adding more fabric and classes. We have wholesale customers like other retail stores that carry our naturally dyed yarn, we participate in knit wear designer's pattern clubs that feature our yarn in exclusive colorways, we do trade shows, sell online, and sell through our brick and mortar store.

Needless to say, Kristine and I have been working a lot. In the past four months we have released my new yarn line Hunt & Gather featuring local wool and dyes, we have started to sell naturally dyed fabric fat quarters and have shown at two major trade shows. Not to mention we have said farewell to a few employees and hired three new ones. No wonder I haven't blogged!

Another exciting news item is that Krisine and I were both featured in an e-magazine called Entangled, based in New Zealand. Kristine's article features her natural dyeing talent, my article is a Q&A on mushroom dyeing! We must thank Donna Druchunas and Entangled for their interest and support of our work!

I have been taking lots of pictures of my gardens and my mushroom hunts. Now if I could just pull it all together for some blog posts, I'd be happy. For now, I'm in bed, writing this post on my iPad using a blogging app. I'm determined to blog more with this set up. The only problem is that I have a 1st generation iPad with no camera, so the pictures need to be uploaded to the iPad. *sigh* But there is silver lining! I purchased a brand new iPod touch to help photograph and post my pictures. I'm very excited, it's the best use of my tax return.

Thank you for reading and I promise to post pictures of the gardens very soon.
Cheers and happy gardening!

The Mushroom Season Begins!

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne Rodriguez) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 01:38:00 +0000

It is with great pleasure I start a new blog post with the title "The Mushroom Season Begins!"

March through late September I am occupied by my sun garden. I start plants from seed, watch them grow and then harvest their bounty. This past growing season was filled with new plants like weld, new planting boxes, and new and improved dye classes.

We had a long, hot and dry summer in Oakland and I wondered what Fall would bring. Voila! Here we are a few days from Thanksgiving and the past few weeks have been colder with rain. Needless to say, this is perfect weather for mushrooms.

Ysolda inside a redwood!

Kristine and Cleo at Samuel P. Taylor

My hunting this year begins with a trip to Samuel P. Taylor State Park. Kristine, Ysolda (my friend visiting CA from Scotland), Cleo and I trekked into the lush forest to find very little happening with the fungi. The above mushroom pictures are of Trametes versicolor growing on a log. I decided not to pick them because they looked sooo pretty.

Me and Cleo, notice I have my mushroom knife with me!

Seals at Chimney Rock at Point Reyes

Point Reyes at sunset, on the far left you can see Ysolda taking pictures of the seals in the cove below

We also explored Point Reyes but found more wildlife than fungi. It was great fun to see the elephant seals lounging on the beach and playing in the nearby coves. We even saw a newborn calf learn to stand while its mother, a giant black and white dairy cow, licked it clean. And of course the sunsets are always amazing!

My next hunting excursion combined a light run with my friend Ysolda through Redwood Regional Park in the Oakland Hills. Cleo and Kristine also came along but decided to walk. It was early November and there was not much to be seen! I came home disappointed, but knowing the season was on the verge of hitting. I didn't even bring my camera!

Dyer's Polypore with knife in the picture for scale, Phaeolus schweinitzii, btw nice knife!

Oysters on log

Sulphur tufts - this mushroom gives a beautiful bright yellow

Then came a magical day trip to a ranch in Bodega where we source wool for the AVFKW store. I mentioned to the shepherdess, Hazel, that I wanted to scout around the property and asked if it was okay with her. Not only was it okay, but one of the locals who live on the land trust agreed to show us around. While we waited for Kristine to sort out the yarn pick up with Hazel, Ysolda and I poked around close by. Suprisingly, not only 15 feet from the car we found about 30 little earthstars growing happily under some redwoods. It was great fun to find them, the hunting had begun! I have never dyed wool with Earthstars but the potential was very exciting to say the least. As we gathered the stars under the pine duff, our friendly mushroom guide named Jay arrived in his small pickup truck. He smiled and remembered meeting me the year before; we had a lovely exchange about mushrooming and the possibilities of the nearby forest.

earthstar mushroom with Ysolda's hand for scale

Jay is a very sweet fellow and on that day he was wearing a wide rimmed sun hat, sandals, and deerskin pants (that I assume he made!). The back of his truck was already filled with dyers polypores, pumpkins, and various other nature items. He told us that "up the hill" was the best spot for the polypores. So Ysolda and I squished into the small cabin of the pickup truck and started our very bumby off road ride up the hill. Along the way, the Bodega Pasture's sheep greeted us by lifting up their heads to watch us pass, they were very busy eating! Jay stopped along a slope filled with pine trees and there we found numerous polypores. We even found a few sulfur tufts, oyster mushrooms, and russulas. We spent the next thirty minutes with our eyes skimming the forest floor. We had so many polypores, our arms were full! We left that day with a great bounty.

Amanita

When we left bodega we traveled an hour up HWY 1 to Salt Point State Park. It was already very late but we had 20 minutes of hunting time. I plan to return in a few weeks with more time and more daylight! Above is a panther amanita I found just before I hit the parking lot to go home.

I know what you're wondering... what I did with all of those dyer's polypore? I taught a Mushroom Dyeing class at A Verb for Keeping Warm that weekend using two pounds of the harvest. To learn more sign up for the next class in December!

Polypores on my porch waiting for the dyepot

Dye pot with polypore soup

Class samples drying outside

Shade card of polypore on four different yarns

Even more exciting is the seasonal and limited edition yarn I will be selling at AVFKW. Look for it when you're in the store! These were all dyed using the dyer's polypore.

Dyeing with Nature! New Class October 15th

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne Rodriguez) — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 18:40:00 +0000

Dyeing with Nature!
Instructor: Adrienne Rodriguez

This is Natural Dye Class taught by Adrienne Rodriguez. You will learn how to dye yarn and fiber with fresh or dried whole natural dye stuffs, not from extracts. This will inspire you to have fun with the plants that surround you, including mushrooms!

She will cover the following (but not limited to):

- Yarn and Fiber Preparation which will include helpful tips for a successful end product
- Mordanting with Alum for protein fibers (these are fibers that come from animals)
- Dye Stuff Prep
- Actual dyeing of yarn and fiber
- Washing and drying your yarn
- Plants and mushrooms in the Bay Area that offer great color
- Resources for continued learning

We will provide some dyestuffs but highly encourage you to bring your own dyestuff from your own backyard! We recommend at least two pounds of non-dried and/or one pound dried!

This class is focused on retrieving color from nature and having fun doing it! You will walk away with the skills to dye your own yarn or fiber with plants, not mention samples of your dyeing that day.

Date: Saturday, October 15th
Time: 1pm - 5pm
Location: A Verb for Keeping Warm - 6328 San Pablo Avenue, Oakland, CA 94608, 510.595.8372
Fee: $75.00
Materials included

Notes: Dress for the weather and dyeing outside, you may want to bring gloves for wet stuff!

See more classes! http://store.averbforkeepingwarm.com/classes.html

Picture Time: The Dye Garden is Growing!

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne Rodriguez) — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 17:48:00 +0000

Garden Growing!

Madder

True Indigo

Weld

Woad

Yarrow

Making raised beds for the dye garden!

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne Rodriguez) — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 19:52:00 +0000

I constructed raised beds for the new store made from redwood lumber. For the materials I chose flat topped redwood fencing boards for the sides and redwood 2x4s for the frame.

I chose redwood because its pretty resistant to rotting. My other option would have been pressure treated wood, but I don't trust the chemicals they use to treat the wood. Since this would be a raised bed there would be water run off that my dog Cleo could be tempted to drink, so I chose redwood instead. I'm also an organic gardener and won't be using any pesticides or chemical fertilizers.

So above is a picture of the frame of the raised bed. Sorry I don't have pictures of putting the frame together! I lined the inside of the frame with a plastic liner so I could control the water drainage direction. Then I placed gravel and sand at the bottom of the bed. I should mention my original plan was to not install any drainage system. However, my friend and local artist Derik told me I should do it and how; so thank you Derik! Super insightful in lieu of all of the rain that we have had! It is actually draining as planned! BTW, water sitting in the bed could cause disease and rot to the plants, which is not what I wanted! So drainage is key for a healthy planting system.

I drilled 2" holes on the side of the bed I wanted to drain. The hole will be the exit for the french drain seen below.

I used a 2" piece of pvc pipe and drill holes at the bottom an inch or so apart, as seen below.

I then place the pipe on the gravel. The idea is that the excess water will flow down to this area and go into the pipe and out the side.

Then I covered the drain lightly with the gravel to hold it in place and help keep the drainage fluid.

For the dirt I had a LOT of help from friends. My friend Ysolda was visiting from Scotland and she was happy to help me, so we went on an errand to pick up over 100 pounds of free potting soil that the City of Berkeley leaves for gardeners like us. Thankfully Ysolda is very strong and is always up for a challenge. We filled over ten buckets and very heavy plastic bags of soil and loaded them in the car. Very dusty and hard work, THANK YOU Ys!

My other friend and colleague Sarah brought us at least eight bags of composted Alpaca manure. It was rich with nutrients and full of red wigglers! Hooray for worms. Sarah's mother and father own a thriving Alpaca farm in Glen Ellen, called Brookfarm Alpaca and compost all the waste. A heartfelt thank you to them!

Thank you friends for all of your help! I know many people will enjoy seeing the garden and the rare dye plants. Cheers!

Welcome Summer! Welcome the New Dye Garden @ A Verb for Keeping Warm!

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne Rodriguez) — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 14:10:00 +0000

Hello! I hope all of my readers are doing well. This blog post will cover the past few months of dye gardening.

PLANTING
We, in the beautiful Bay Area, have been having a lot more rain at this time of year than normal. I did my first planting of dye garden plants in mid April. The weather however, was hit and miss; one day it would be hot and sunny, the next cold and rainy. So the plants germinated at varying rates. All of the plants I started from seed except for the yarrow.

Here are some of the plants I planted with successful results:

Madder
Goldenrod
Weld
Coreopsis tinctoria
Zinnia
Amaranth
Hopi Black Dye Sunflower
Woad

Two plants that never sprouted for me were:

Henna and Annatto :( Better luck next time
I have a feeling it never got hot enough for them to sprout.

In the old dye garden in my backyard (in another part of Oakland near the hills) the Bronze Fennel is coming up with ease! Be careful when planting! It will self seed itself like crazy. I like to harvest just before it goes to seed. The whole plant is used. Don't worry about hurting it or cutting back too much. This plant is resilient! The plant yielded for me a dark golden brown, on silk fiber mordanted with alum.

NEW GARDEN - NEW MICROCLIMATE!
At the new store (A Verb for Keeping Warm) I have built one, of many to be built, raised beds with redwood planking, used for fences. The new location has more sun and tends to warm up faster than at my house. The store has a concrete patio which meant I needed to either use some type of container or raised beds. I decided raised beds were more fun and aesthetically pleasing as a border.

The raised beds are about 25" tall and 16" wide and currently hold a demo dye garden. I hope to raise some more money to build the rest of the raised beds around the perimeter of the patio. I plan to use them as an educational tool for school children and the general public that want to see what these types of plants look like in person.

Not to mention they will act as a visual aid to students learning to dye with plants in my Intro to Dye Gardening and Kristine's Natural Dye Classes. Still growing happily in the garden is the indigofera tinctoria, which is great to see in person!

COMMUNITY OUTREACH

This past May I led a shop tour to a total of 34 cute kindergartners from the nearby elementary school. I showed them where wool came from and introduced them to the dye plants; educating them on color and clothing! It was so much fun! The kids were ADORABLE and they even made me a small weaving, as a thank you. I hung it up in the store immediately.

Here are some pictures of the current garden. I invite you to visit and ask questions. I plan to start running my Intro to Dye Gardening classes very soon so keep checking back!

Woad! (blue)

Madder! (red)

Weld! (yellow)

Indigofera tinctoria (blue)

The nursery of plants growing from seed + sunshine!

The next post...

I will explain how I built the raised beds. I had lots of help from friends. More to come.

Thanks for reading!

Engage! Dyeing plants and mushrooms in the new year!

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne Rodriguez) — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 02:14:00 +0000

It's the New Year and my Birthday was on the 11th of January. To me this means the beginning of a new era. I'm hoping to blog more this year to document even more of my gardening and dyeing experiments.

I'm also starting to spin and knit more this upcoming year; so I will probably start posting more of those experiences online too.

This past Saturday I led a two hour Introduction to Dye Gardening class. Which at this point I feel should be expanded to three hours for a more in depth exploration into dyeing with fresh plants that can be grown locally.

I will also be expanding my Introduction to Mushroom Dyeing to 3hrs. Both class will cost a bit more but I hope to be able to utilize the time for the students to go home with samples to play with, show off or keep for future references in their continued dyeing experiences.

If you have not taken a class with me, I invite you to take my next class on:
Introduction to Mushroom Dyeing
Saturday, February 26th
1pm - 4pm
at
A Verb for Keeping Warm in Oakland
6328 San Pablo Avenue

Cheers and happy gardening!

Introduction to Dye Gardening, Saturday January 22, 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne Rodriguez) — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 00:22:00 +0000

Intro to Dye Gardening and Dyeing with Plants
Instructor: Adrienne Rodriguez

In this class, you will learn about various dye plants you can grow in your own backyard. We will focus on the elements needed for successful gardening. This two hour class will discuss the types of plants you can use to dye fiber, help you plan a dye garden and demonstrate the plant dyeing process.

Date: Saturday, January 22nd, 2011
Time:11:30am - 1:30pm
Class Fee:$28
Location:
A Verb for Keeping Warm
6328 San Pablo Avenue
Oakland, CA 94608
510.595.8372

Sign up here:

Intro to Mushroom Foraging and Dyeing @avfkw

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne Rodriguez) — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 22:37:00 +0000

Intro to Mushroom Foraging and Dyeing
Instructor: Adrienne Rodriguez

In this class, you will learn about various dye mushrooms you can forage. We will focus on the proper way of collecting mushrooms and where to find them. This one hour class will explore this wonderful natural dye resource. We will also demo dyeing wool with them. Join us for some myco fun! All materials provided.

Date: Sunday, December 18th
Time: 4pm - 5pm
Class Fee:$15
Location: A Verb for Keeping Warm, 6328 San Pablo Avenue, Oakland, CA 94608, cross street Alcatraz

SIGN UP right now using button below!

Intro to Dye Gardening Class! June 26th, 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne Rodriguez) — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 15:02:00 +0000

Intro to Dye Gardening and Dyeing with Plants
Instructor: Adrienne Rodriguez

In this class, you will learn about various dye plants you can grow in your own backyard. We will focus on the elements needed for successful gardening. This two hour class will discuss the types of plants you can use to dye fiber, help you plan a dye garden and demonstrate the plant dyeing process.

Date: Saturday, June 26
Time:2:30-4:30pm
Class Fee:$28

sign up here!
http://store.averbforkeepingwarm.com/naturaldyeing.html

Dye Garden 2010 - Up and running!

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne Rodriguez) — Wed, 12 May 2010 20:00:00 +0000

I got up super early this morning to work on my dye garden. So far so good. Photos are soon to follow.

Also, for all those folks wanting to take my Dye Gardening Class I will be posting it soon.

Thanks for reading!

-A

I survived Stitches West 2010!

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne Rodriguez) — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 17:05:00 +0000

First of all I had so much fun meeting new friends and seeing old ones.

Here are some highlights of the the show:

+ The largest spindle tree ever was assembled and displayed
+ Received a signed copy of Rachael Herron's NEW book "How to Knit a Love Song"
(which I am currently reading and LOVE it, BUY it!, You'll LOVE it tooo!)
+ Had dinner with two awesome knitting designers, that I LOVE
+ Sold my very own product! Dye Seeds!!! (more info to come!)
+ Purchased 30" circular needles and casted on using Magic Loop method (Abmatic
taught me!)
+ Met Anna Zilboorg (she was at our booth signing books) and bought her a water! (she is the sweetest!)
+ Went to Bobbin's Nest annual Stitches party
+ Hung out with knitting friends from SF
+ Made new friends
+ Saw old friends and supporters, which always makes me feel awesome!

In other NEWS!! MUSHROOM HEAVEN!

Right before Stitches I found a Morel in my yard! Here it is!

This is a Morchella esculenta
I imagine it is from some inoculated mulch I was given by my friend Michelle for my birthday 2 years ago! The mulch is from Gourmet Mushrooms and Mushroom Products One of the best Birthday presents ever! I left the mycelium intact so it will fruit more. Cannot wait!

Intro to Dye Gardening Class! Feb. 20th, 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne Rodriguez) — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 05:32:00 +0000

Indigofera tinctoria grown from seed by me

Hello Everyone,

Long time no post. Sorry about that. The holidays we're pretty rough, but I'm re-emerging more energized and excited about 2010. I just had a birthday and that always makes me re-evaluate things in my life; mostly career oriented goals. This year, I've decided, will be the year of doing some outreach. I'm starting off by teaching a class! Here are the details. I've also included the button to sign up! Hope to see you there!

Intro to Dye Gardening
Instructor: Adrienne Rodriguez

In this class, you will learn about various dye plants you can grow in your own backyard. We will focus on the elements needed for successful gardening. This one hour class will discuss the types of plants you can use to dye fiber, the types of gardening techniques available, soil conditions, lighting and watering, pests and diseases, and last but not least how to plant your seeds. This is a lecture class with the option to buy dye seeds and seedlings after class to get a jump start!

Duration: 1 hour
Class Fee: $15
Date: Saturday, February 20, 2010
Time: 1pm - 2pm
Location: A Verb for Keeping Warm, 2703 7th Street, #133 Berkeley, Ca 94710

For more information on the classes held at A Verb for Keeping Warm check out http://store.averbforkeepingwarm.com/naturaldyeing.html

AVFKW Holiday Party, Dec. 5 & 6th, 2009 10am - 5pm

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne Rodriguez) — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 16:03:00 +0000

We've come a long way way and now it's time to celebrate!! Join us at the studio today for holiday cheer and mingling. We have a few friends with us including:

Girl on the Rocks
Faerie Mountain Fibers
Pigeon Roof Studios

And in the ActiveSpace building check out:

Derek Van Beers - Ceramics
Relish and Papaver Vert - Hip Home Goods
Mirto Golina - Sculpture and Crocheted items
David G. - Jewlery

Did I mention the Hot Cider, Coffee, Tea, Marcel the French Angora Bunny, cookies, mulled wine!

We're having tons of fun, come see us, we MISS YOU!

Heart
Aday

Time Change?!

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne Rodriguez) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 05:30:00 +0000

For the past three days I've been in bed with the flu. It's safe to say I got it at SOAR 2009. I meant to get a t-shirt but all I got was this damn sickness. Now, I'm up typing in another room so I won't wake anyone up. Marcel doesn't sleep at night, so he doesn't mind.

Kristine made an awesome dinner tonight, lemon crouton chicken by Ina Garten. I love it so much. But other than than that I've been on a very low key sick diet. You know the liquid type, juice, soup, bread and stuff like that. My fever finally broke today so I can sit up without getting dizzy, so I'm happy with the improvement.

If you had spoken to me on Tuesday, you would have thought I had something worse. I've spent most of my days sleeping and drinking tea. When I couldn't go back to sleep I laid on the couch and watched the Blue Lagoon (which I've never seen!) and Batman (love that movie!) (daytime AMC). Anyway, I didn't really have a cough until last night. And now the darn thing won't go away. I've tried Delsym, Tussin, cough drops, hot tea, hot lemon water, I gargled with warm water and salt, I even took a half of vicodin cuz I read it's an anti-tussive (meaning it suppresses the urge to cough). Through the current paragraph I'm typing I coughed about five times. *SIGH* My fever is gone now but at it's height hit 101.5 and that was the worse part, but now it's the dry cough. :(

This past Sunday Morning we drove home from Sunriver, Oregon. We were both very tired and wanted to relax in our own house. On the way back we saw my favorite mountain/volcano Mt. Shasta.

As you can see from the picture below Kristine can knit anywhere.

Ohh But wait!, before that, on Friday (when I was HEALTHY) my friend Velma and I went to the High Desert Museum 10 min away from the resort.

When we walked in we saw a cowboy braiding a new horse bridle! Velma and I promptly told him we were both spinners. Later I asked him if there were knitting cowboys, he said, they darned their own socks but bought the socks at a general store...hmm, the search goes on. Here he is braiding away like a living statue at disneyland!

While checking out the exhibits we found a spinning wheel in one of the tableaus! A Flax Spinning wheel, we noticed the distaff was just to the left of it, see it?!

We also saw a lot of Native American woven and beaded items. One of the neatest items I saw was a bag woven out of corn husks! Here you can see the Sturgeon, condors, deer, and dogs.

Then we came across these lovely mohair hide chaps. Very Nice!

Then we ventured into the exploratorium-like area where we could look at materials under a microscope. For example here is my shirt under magnification:

Here's Velma trying to see her hair:

We both had to be back at the market so we left before we could see the museum's Birds of Prey exhibit. However, we did see a very nice screech owl with a handler in the lobby, those little things are really cute!!!

I really wish I had more time to explore because I love rocks and lichen and the Deschutes Forest had lot to offer. Not to mention chipmunks! Do you see the chipmunk in the picture below?

The deer were playing golf! Not really but what a cool picture.

Reporting Live from SOAR!

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne Rodriguez) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 03:55:00 +0000

The Drive

We awoke at 5:45am this Sunday Morning. Kristine's mom was catching a bayporter to the Oakland Airport at 6am to head back to Minnesota. She spent the last three weeks with us helping us prepare for SOAR. Her visit was a total god sent for numerous reasons. Needless to say we really appreciated all of her help and company.

The van was loaded on Saturday night with the help of Nam, WonderMike (podcaster with a NEW podcast called Fiber Beat, check it out!!!! he has a contest right now), Kristine's mom, Kristine and myself. We had pizza from Rotten Cty Pizza which really helped us pack!

After running around loading the last bits of stuff into the van we left Oakland, CA at 7:15am. The van was and is still filled with most of the AVFKW store. Kristine's cherry matchless laid on it's back in view through the back window. Which came in handy when a little red Prius passed us honking. Of course my first thought when someone is passing me honking and waving at me is "I must have a flat tire" or "Oh god the back door is open" you know something bad. But no, the little red Prius had a very happy girl waving at us in spinning camaraderie as I noticed a spinning wheel in tea back seat as she passed us. It was seriously the cutest moment so far.

We got to WEED, CA at 11am and stopped to have breakfast at the Hi-Lo cafe (I got the pancakes). While I was finishing up breakfast Kristine ran across the street to the local liquor store for the special Weed Beer.

After we left Weed we caught the 97 north. It was so super beautiful. I was driving so not a lot of pictures from pictures me. Kristine took some nice ones, so stay tuned to her flickr page or blog.

We arrived ar Sunriver at 3:30pm. We were both bouncing off the walls excited to be there. We went to the registration table and immediately saw people we knew, yea!

I felt jet lagged so I was dying for some decompression. Let's just say I had a coffee for my headache and a beer for my nerves. We're in the Deschutes forest area, so I drank a delicious, no joke, Mirror Pond Pale Ale

SUNRIVER

The Sunriver Resort is much more than I expected. This is now on my top list of working vacation locations. It is nicely wooded, quiet, and accommodating. I even spotted two deer outside my window just after arrving to our room!

The best part of our room is the fireplace!

MONDAY, October 26th

Breakfast is from 7am - 8am so we needed to get a bit earlier than I wanted, but if someone is cooking for me and doing the dishes I'm there! So after breakfast Kristine headed to her class with Michael Cook (Worm Spit) the famous Silk Master. I went to the market area to start setting up. I unloaded the van which I actually had fun doing, I blame the good coffee. Then in the late morning I went looking for the restroom and found a coffee and hot chocolate station, decked out with whipped cream and mini marshmallows. At that point I really forgot I was at work! After 5 hours of setting up the booth my body ached and knew I had gotten a pretty good workout. After dinner Kristine and I headed for the hot tub while it was snowing and the moon glowed above!!! Truly one of the most beautiful moments in my life. I never realized how beautiful and quiet snow is falling at night. Just heavenly!

Here's a random thought

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne Rodriguez) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 05:50:00 +0000

This is my neighbor's garden a year ago. Goes to show you can grow anywhere! Wall-E!!!!!!

Knitting at SFMOMA

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne Rodriguez) — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 04:33:00 +0000

Here I am hamming it up for the camera. This is a Piet Mondrian inspired cake slice by pastry chef Caitlin Williams (a former co-owner of Miette patisserie located in the SF Ferry building) who is showcasing her work at the SFMOMA Roof Cafe that serves our favorite high octane Blue Bottle coffee. Let me just say when I first heard that Blue Bottle was going to be at SFMOMA, in Heath Ceramics, I just about moved into the museum. I remember counting down the days. Finally this past Sunday morning I sat there enjoying the coffee, the cake, the ceramics, the art, the knitting, and the new friends; I may as well have been in an artsy bohemian heaven! So yes, I think heaven exists, if you let it, even while you're still alive!!!

First I ordered two cappuccinos (one for me, one for Kristine) and one slice of Thiebaud cake (with two forks). Let me just say it tastes as good as it looks. And the four layers! Oh stop it, you are killing me Caitlin!!! So delectable, adorable, and precious! Just like the paintings. The cappuccino espresso is even a special blend for SFMOMA. You can buy the "MOMA" blend at the counter.

So after chatting a bit I took this picture of the group. Here you see some wonderful well known folks in the knitting world. They would slap me if I said that in front of them, but this is my blog so HA! From left to right: Aija the notorious blogger, known as SockPron, Kristine Vejar from A Verb for Keeping Warm, and Stephen Houghton knit designer and podcaster (Y Knit) aka HizKnits. I'm so glad they could make the event!

You may have heard I was in the San Francisco Chronicle Datebook's "Back Page". Thanks to Leah Garchik for putting the event in her column, too cool for words!

After trying to knit (um cuz I was eating!!! oops!) My friend brought me over the Mondrian cake (that was not out yet when I ordered my coffee) As soon as we were finished documenting its glory, Kristine politely took it out of my hands and went to town! Below is a picture of what it looked like when she put the plate down. Yeah, I'm going there. Yes, it was that good, I don't blame her!! The chocolate icing was so simple and delicious, it made one high. I'm not even going to discuss the construction. But it is an architectural masterpiece of sponge cake, enough said!

Here's a few more pictures of the event. I hope to plan another time to meet, I will keep you all posted!

Eat Real Fest in Oakland not to be missed!

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne Rodriguez) — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 16:18:00 +0000

Eat Real Festival
August 28 - 30, 2009
Jack London Square, Oakland, Ca
Free
(bring cash for yummy food and beer!)

This is a wonderful overdue event in Oakland. Following the Slow Food Nation event in SF this is a real treat for the East Bay crowd.
Offering a wide variety of food and pricing it from $1 -$5; keeping the snobbishness away from real good food! Making good eating accessible to a wider audience. I think this is a wonderful event to bring kids, parents, and friends to. Show them why we LOVE Oakland. In a lot of ways we are the heart of the of the DIY, Slow Food, Subculture Art movement but we get shafted for our crime or some other stupid reason that makes no sense in the media and word of mouth. Not to mention some of the events posted are a Foraging and Canning Exchange as well as a Butchery contest details to come!

Let's change the tides and come out an support this remarkable Oakland event. I'll be there with a taco in one hand and a microbrew in the other!

"Street food, fresh summer fruits and veggies, live music, handcrafted local beers, ice cream sold from the back of a bicycle. Come find it all and more at Eat Real, a free festival, taking place August 28-30 at Jack London Square. Buy from your favorite street food vendors, pick up a ticket for the Beer Shed and sample from among the 40-something microbrews, or shop in the Market for local produce and artisanal snacks. In between the good eats, enjoy the non-stop entertainment and activities that include chef demonstrations, dance performances, bands, films, food competitions, and lots more, for free.

Proceeds from the event benefit People’s Grocery, La Cocina and Community Alliance with Family Farmers"

The above quote wass taken directly from their website. Learn more atEat Real Fest

Mid August Sunflower Love

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne Rodriguez) — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 18:37:00 +0000

I've been so busy with Sock Summit 2009 preparations that I haven't blogged in a long time. Let's get back in the game with a beautiful Hopi Black Dye Sunflower picture. They must me 10-12ft tall at this point!

I will write soon - I promise!!!
Off to the AVFKW Dye Studio.

Replanting!

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne Rodriguez) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 14:21:00 +0000

Oh dear! I have led you all astray! Yesterday Kristine noticed the "madder" was getting very tall. I replied and said yeah that is so weird, I thought it was like a bush instead of a stalk. Then Kristine said it looks like sunflowers. Then it dawned on me. My Madder were actually sun flowers! The Madder plants never germinated! SAD!!! I am now replanting indoors to make sure. I am also replanting some indigo. They never really got very big. I think they just damped off.

Why did I use the plexi glass over the seed tray in the first planting?
The plexi acts as a mini greenhouse allowing the moisture to stay inside, instead of evaporating. The moisture helps with germination. It helps with softening the hard seed coat. However since the plexi was lying flat it did not allow the plants to grow upright. The sunflowers germinated in days and started curving inside against the glass. So I took the glass of but lost my perfect germination environment that I would have needed for the madder and indigo to sprout. My solution was to by a dome top at the store specially designed for the seed tray. We will see if this helps.

Below is a picture of a Madder plant from the UC Berkeley Botanical Garden

Cigar Box Charkha Building and Dye Garden Update

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne Rodriguez) — Tue, 26 May 2009 16:59:00 +0000

Pictures of my current Dye Plants in the Garden

Above: Madder in the Front Yard, planted in Part Sun

Above:Indigo planted in a pot, it's in Part Sun right now, it was getting burned in Full Sun

Above: Hopi Black Dye Sunflowers in Part Sun, grown inside and transplanted outside, doing very well!

CIGAR BOX CHARKHA BUILDING!

My friend WonderMike has been making me very interested in Charkha spinning, so I decided to make my own. This didn't really start with WonderMike, really, but he is very contagious, if you know what I mean. It started at my friends house when Kathleen broke out a strange laptop machine and started spinning cotton. What the hell is that! So cool! It's so small, portable and has little wheels that turn. It was a beautiful Bosworth Book Charkha. I was instantly hooked, but my major foray into spinning had not begun. So it just stayed in my mind for a while. Then WonderMike started talking about the Charkha and showiing me a DVD how to video.

I had heard about the Cigar Box model design posted in Spin-Off. So I looked it up and downloaded the instructions. It's not like I really have time to be making this thing with my new job, taking care of the household, and animals. But I decided to print it out and see what it takes to build it.

Long story short four days later this is what my Living room carpet looked like ALL memorial day weekend. Sorry Kristine! She was a very good sport and very compelled by the process, checking in while she knit behind me on the couch as we watched Law and Order and Intervention.

Below are the wheels that I cut out of pine and then turned on my Lathe ("Julia the Jet" is her name) to make the grooves where the drive band would go. Note: before I brought out my lathe I was trying to cut the groove with a chisel, old school stylee.

Below is the close-up of most of the parts I'm using. You can see the Beading plastic cord called Magic Stretch I found at Michael's Craft Store, that I hope works.

Okay all for now must go back to work!

BTWD

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne Rodriguez) — Mon, 25 May 2009 20:45:00 +0000

8:30am: Me and Abby at the Claremont Energizer station, hosted by Hank and Franks Bike shop in Oakland.

I got up on Thursday very excited about Bike to Work day. It gives me a chance each year to meet other bikers and spread the word about how easy, fun, and eco it is to bicycle just about anywhere in the Bay Area.

My new job at A Verb for Keeping Warm is 3.5 miles away from where I live in Oakland. Typically Kristine and I carpool there in our shared Honda Civic (30 mpg) with Cleo the dachshund or Marcel the Angora bunny and of course a spinning wheel and/or a loom, and maybe some fiber on top.

I got up at 7am to prep for the day. I pulled out my bike, pumped the tires up, and loaded my messenger bag.
My helmet, gloves, and lights were attached and I was ready to ride!

The morning was already very sunny and warm so I left my jacket at home and rode up College Avenue and stopped at a station where I heard my name called. It was Abby (abmatic), she was there and very happy to see me. She had texted me to let me know she'd be there. I didn't get the text but fate brought us together anyway!

Hank and Franks handed out tote bags perfect for bike riding with coupons for local bike shops, a Scharffenberger Chocolate bar and Mini Cliff Bar that became by breakfast later on. Thanks Cliff bar you rock!

I then said goodbye to Abby and went down Alcatraz turned right on Hillagass and then though the neighborhood onto Ashby. I was at work very early and started working on the Fiber Club.

For lunch I rode my bike to Westside Cafe and loaded my baskets with lunch and rode back to the studio (this was very fun!)

After work the East Bay Bicycle Coalition was holding a party called Bike Away From Work Party in Oakland's Temescal District.
So at 5:30 I rode down San Pablo went up Powell Street and then went down 51st to Telegraph Avenue. Behind the Frazee paint store the rode was blocked off and bike parking was set up.

Bike to Work Day, May 14, 2009! Woohoo!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne Rodriguez) — Thu, 14 May 2009 02:06:00 +0000

Dust off that helmet people and get ready to ride!
It's one of my favorite days of the year. It's Bike to Work Day on may 14th, 2009.

For more info go to: http://btwd.bayareabikes.org/