Spring things: storms, dyeing

Bundle of nerves here, two days of storms racing through, a great deal of rain, moments of terrific lightning and thunder, and, last night, a brief pounding of hail. Lily trembles from head to toe and heads for the basement - even the sound of heavy rain has her alert, anxious.

I may not tremble from head to toe, but our history with rain in the basement and flood losses leaves me with a triggered anxiety when heavy rain is in the picture, a regular patrol of the perimeter of the basement which is my main fiber studio. Wet vac at the ready, dehumidifier going, and snake-check & replacement. (Snakes = 3 foot tubes of absorbent material to position at vulnerable points, guaranteed to slurp up a gallon of water.)

One more day is promised of gloomy gray, and stormy moments and rain. One more day of reframing, of reminding myself of water's joy,  how the plants grow so well, of gratitude for the cycle of rain and sun.

Meanwhile, I  put my herb plants in containers yesterday during a lull: three varieties of basil, thyme, lavender, rosemary. I went ahead and set them outside on the little brick patio at my back steps. And this morning, they seem happy, none the worse for the hail.

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Also yesterday, inspired by this post by Jude Hill at Spirit Cloth, I started some small dyeing in mason jars. I had never dyed with whole turmeric root before and found some at a local shop, the Asian Market in downtown Terre Haute. 

Jude's method is just to boil the plant matter a bit,  add some alum (1/4 tsp should do), and transfer to a mason jar or two, adding the bits of cloth and thread to dye. Like her, I'm not drawn to using yellow and turmeric yields a bright and vivid yellow, but I like the idea of over-dyeing it, or using small bits here and there.

I put white cotton squares and rectangles in one jar, and some colored fabric, a couple of kantha pieces, in another. In each, I put two skeins of embroidery floss, a grey, a pink, a brown and a color I can't remember. I wish I'd taken a before picture of the materials.

I am also wishing for some sun to give some more heat to the process, but that's not happening.  So we shall see.