Reds

Here we go! More pictures about summer 2025 plant dyes. These our own wool OOW yarns (25% arctic dog wool and 75% Finnsheep wool) are dyed by Surprise Webcap (Cortinarius semisanguineus). You can see three of them also here. 

These 4 have been plant dyed by Madder. Also for these I used OOW yarn (25% arctic dog wool and 75% Finnsheep wool). You can see one more red OOW yarn dyed by madder here with blue yarn.

Here is one more OOW yarn dyed by madder. It looks brighter and it really is. It all depends also about it on which shade you plant dye.

Here you can see all 5 together. On the left side is OOW yarn with the original natural white shade. The other 4 are natural light grey-beige on their original shade. The difference is not big but visible and it is enough to make the difference on the result.

And here is our own yarn AAW (50% our own ethic produced arctic angora wool, 40% ethic produced FinnSheep wool, 10% nylon) (100g = 238m) dyed by madder. On the left side is the 1 st bath, in the middle is the 3rd bath and on the right side the 4th bath. (Yes, you are right, I missed the 2nd. It comes later. 😅) When you compare all the pics in this blog post you can notice the madder doesn't get attach to our AAW yarn as well as on to OOW yarn. It must be because of the angora wool and slight 10% add of nylon because roughly to say it is half lighter than the matching baths with OOW yarn. But is does't matter. It is good to know and these are cute too and will be used later...

WOW! What is this???!!! It is my own souvenir from Dublin, Ireland for me & myself! I learnt with my students that it is very difficult to find wool yarn that is manufactured in Ireland from Irish sheep! This is it! It is Ériu. Take a look! I bought some blue in my favorite shade. I bought also some white for my plant dyes. The upper one is the 2nd bath you missed in the previous pic 😃and the lower one is the 2nd bath of Surprise Webcap (Cortinarius semisanguineus). We'll see what these all will turn out!

ForestSámiSummerExpo2025

I am not at home. I took some day off from looking after Poor-Pii. Today you can find me at Salla, Finland. If you are around and have something to say or ask, just come to say hello to me at any time what ever I am doing! You can find the expo at Sallan koulukeskus, Kuusamontie 5, Salla, Finland on Friday the 18th of July 2025. It is the local school building so when you spot it you are close. 

Anyone are free to come and go at any time they wish. Just come and take a look! You don't need to stay all day.

If you are around take a look also at these interesting exhibitions at 

Postipolku 5, Salla

Myllytie 2, Salla

Save Salla Senter, Salla

(yep, it is Senter, not center 😅)

If you are still around on Saturday the 19th of July in Salla,

take a look at the Salla-Päivä stage at 11.30am. 

You will see many of us walking on the stage dressed up into our Sámi costumes!

Connected

My own design tin thread embroidery belt Anttu's Life is now ready for the use. It has silver-golden snake tablet weave band. It is modern style Sámi design but it included a lot old and traditional strong symbolism for the protection. Still it reminds us all about the joy of life, but also asking for and providing the help.

SilverBand

I've been doing some tablet weaving on our terrace deck.

I was interrupted by someone who thinks I am the most shiny baby in the corner. The flirt was so straight that even I understood it. I must confess I was a bit flattered. A woman at my age and still someone thinks I have the most shiny body in the world!

Since being a child I have been admired dragonflies but never before they have been interested about me. Not even I get many of them visiting my garden every summer!

This fellow was really persevering and arrived several times to get me on the flight. I told I am married already but it took quite a long time until the nature called and the dragonfly flew after someone else.

I designed and made silver-golden tablet weave band. The other end is a bit different because I tested another figure first but noticed it doesn't work so well. I could have taken it away but wanted to leave it all there. I decorated the other end with glass beads. On the other side is 12 beads for the protection of 12 months. On the other side is 8 beads for the protection of 8 seasons. In the modern world we live in months. In the traditional Sámi world we live in 8 seasons and nature cycle. I am sure you can spot the golden snake figure there. For the band I used Schoeller & Stahl's Manuela yarn (85% viscose, 15% polyester) (25g = 112m) in golden and silver shades. I have never before tried band weaving with metallic yarns but as long as you are careful with your moves and turns it seems to work just fine.

True Afterthought Heel

I designed and knit woollen socks with True Afterthought Heels. It is funny but the true shade of the white yarn is natural white but it looks like beige in the pictures. I took many pictures and it is always beige, never natural white!The white yarn I used is from my old collection I have inherit in 2010. It is Finnish 100% wool called Syreeni (50g = 150m). The pink yarn is Red Heart (100% acrylic, 50g = 185m). 

I was a bit worried if the natural white yarn can be seen proper in the pics but for sure you can! That is only good so we don't mind about the weird beige shade in the pics.

I used Single Cables to decorate the socks which otherwise are plain. The tiny cables are cute little decorations.

I knit True Afterthought Heels for the 1st time ever. You can see it in industrially manufactured socks. Despite it is the most common manufactured heel in socks it is not very durable. These are going to be night socks for someone who is not a sleep walker so these socks don't need to be able to bear stress on the heels.