Mossy Cottage Knits

Blue Food (Perhaps Sung to the Tune of “Blue Moon?”)

A friend of mine who is normally sane and stable, nay, almost prim and proper, has one funny quirk – she won’t eat blue food. Banished from her plate are blueberries, blue Jell-O, blue M&Ms, blue jellybeans, and cake with blue icing. Quote: “Food should just not be blue!” Initially, my reaction was to look upon her with bemusement and to feel smugly superior to the poor addled dear, that is, until I did some online research on the phrase “blue food.” I was startled to find this site that says, “Blue food is a rare occurrence in nature. There are no leafy blue vegetables…no blue meats … and aside from blueberries and a few blue-purple potatoes from remote spots on the globe, blue just doesn't exist in any significant quantity as a natural food color. Consequently, we don't have an automatic appetite response to blue. Furthermore, our primal nature avoids food that are poisonous. A million years ago, when our earliest ancestors were foraging for food, blue, purple and black were ‘color warning signs’ of potentially lethal food.” I feel much less bemused and certainly less superior. And I am starting to eye blue food with suspicion.

Knitting Knews
I’ve started knitting a replacement cap for a friend’s moose. Uh, make that a stuffed moose. Better yet, make that a toy stuffed moose like this. Said friend’s significant other, who adores the moose to distraction, took it upon himself to wash it, and threw the whole kit and caboodle, moose, knitted hat, knitted sweater and all, into the washing machine. When it came out, the moose was fine but the hat and sweater looked as if they had been set upon by nuclear-powered moths. Below, pictures of the original hat and my start on the replacement hat. My original plan was to knit this in the round but since said co-worker seemed astonished that she might actually have to pay for the materials for the project, I was willing to fork over $2.00 for some crappy acrylic yarn but I was not willing to pay for a set of size 11 dpns (and I have forgotten everything I ever knew about using circular needles, so flat knitting it is).

Dye Garden Dyegest – Resources and Pictures!
To give credit where credit is due, these are the three books we’re using for dye garden references:

1. “Natural Dyes from Northwest Plants,” by Judy Green (out of print; ordered from a very friendly lady at Fuhrman & Fuhrman, Booksellers)


2. Wild Color, by Jenny Dean


3. A Dyer's Garden: From Plant to Pot Growing Dyes for Natural Fibers, by Rita Buchanan, these last two purchased with a reader's dream come true, a $25.00 Amazon.com gift certificate!

Time for some pictures of the dye garden in its infancy (actually, more like in its fetal stage).

The landscapers cutting the sod.

The east end of the bed in mid-sod-cutting; the "ugly stage" during which K asked herself, “Now, WHY am I doing this?”

The West end of the bed, post-sod-cutting. Pretty! Bursting with potential! But, alas, sadly lacking in topsoil.

Janet, a "commenter," asked what parts of Salal are used for dyeing. I'll get this info and include it in the next entry. Thanks for the question, Janet!

Posted by Ryan at April 28, 2003 02:12 PM