A knitter’s outing
12/02/2007
Tired of my cellophane-wrapped balls of wool, I went on a day spree to Julia Desch’s idyllic Beech Hill Farm in East Sussex to learn about fleece, carding, spinning and to try our hand at indigo dyeing.
For those of you who, like me, know nothing about dyes and even less about wool, let me put you in the picture with my newly acquired facts.
Indigo dyes are obtained from certain plants. Their leaves contain a colourless, non-soluble enzyme called indican. To make the dye indigo, the indican in the leaves must be dissolved by fermentation which renders the indican soluble.
The fermented brew must then be de-oxygenized by adding ammonia so that the pigments in the indican, now soluble but still colourless, will oxidise on contact with oxygen in the air. And bingo! When the fleece was lifted out of the liquid it turned blue under your very eyes!
All this I learnt. Why bother?
Well, I have spent some time in tiny villages in eastern Guizhou province, south west China: now I understand why the Miao women add yeast and sugar to the indigo fructifera plants which they gather up in the mountains and soak in large stone troughs, and why they pour pig or buffalo urine into the distinctly evil smelling concoction! And when I go back in June I will get the Miao ladies to teach me more.
And, having attended Penny’s workshops on dyeing with natural products, spinning and weaving at Vauxhall City Farm, I hope to help set up a Women’s Embroidery Co-Operative in Langde Village.
Anyone for a woolly adventure?
Francesca White