Winter woad

That woad "weed" is amazingly resilient. It has withstood the coldest days and nights here (-12 deg C at times) and continued to slowly grow.
It's not expected to give up any indigo dye from it's leaves past the end of summer so I thought to compost it. However, as I have several fleece lying about, I thought it worth having a bash at dying some if it with theses leaves - mainly to see what colors come from them other than indigo.


There was indeed some faint powdery blue left in the leaves, a creamy color and a sort of peachy-orange. It looks very light now but probably will e a bit more distinct when concentrated in the yarn. Planning on combining then some way. Not sure yet.

Some left-over "spring hedgerow" yarn made a reasonable pair of fingerless "Evangeline" gloves and a Waffle beanie:


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A hank of twist assist and Rufus presents

Finished 568 yards of 2-ply twist assist yarn, 24 - 26 wraps per inch, depending on how tightly it is wrapped on the inch measure. It is smoother and does not have the "drafting jag" that I'm inclined to produce when using either regular or over-twisted short draw.
It measured 583 yards before washing so shrank 2.6% - which would have to be taken into account if trying to spin a certain amount. I'm not keen on dying it as it feels so soft and has a dull luster which I was aiming for and dyes can have such harsh effects.
Attempt at photo on the mobile phone as the camera is on strike:


Red feline Rufus did his murderous job last night.
A mouse was found sitting on the dogs leash as it hung from a hook in the porch. It must have scampered up there to escape the predators living here. It jumped down into a basket of holly branches below and OH placed that outside so it wouldn't invade the house and giving it a chance of escape. But Rufus must have clocked this and next morning:

Poor little thing - but that's Rufus's job - and he does it so well without poisoning the whole place and shares it with us too.