The Camaruge

On the south coast of France in the Rhone river delta is the Camaruge. It's an enormous mosquito-filled salt plain and marsh.





It's noted for being a bird habitat, especially to PINK FLAMINGOS!







Hundreds of them. This pleased me to no end.







The first time I saw them fly by, I had to laugh. They looked so unlikely to be suspended in the sky like that.

Most of the land in this area was the protected Parc Naturel Régional de Camargue, but there were some nifty nature centers and trails. Mostly, the ferocious local mosquito kept this from being a leisurely pleasure walk and more of a harried slap-dance through the bush.

The region has a lot of salt-producing plains (a lot of French Sea Salt comes from this area) and delicious black bulls (the restaurants in nearby Arles specialize in gardiane de taureau) that they breed mostly for the bloodless bullfights traditional to the area.





They weren't really something I were going to test my bravery out on.


phare de la gacholle

There were amazing remote beaches. This one we walked 4km to get to.



It was like a moonscape.



Not too many other people had decided that taking a 4km hike to the water was worth a day at the beach, so it was declared a naked beach. How fun is that?

The water was amazing, by the way. Bathwater warm and gentle surf made the brutal hike worth it.

There were lots of pretty Camaruge horses to be seen. There are feral managed herds running free, but it's also the only domesticated breed of horse in the area.





The foals are born brown or black, and gray with age.






These guys were glossy and fat living on the bruised fruit from a farmstand.



I did get some knitting done during all this running around:



It was so hot and sunny there, the idea of ever wearing any knitware again was absurd.

Natural Dyeing with Brazilwood: Dyeing Kills Me

Did I mention that natural dyeing is a two-day process? I don't do it too often because I rarely can find two days to devote to this. I'm afraid that I'll start a dye pot and then have life get in the way...days later, I will return to a stinky moldy dye pot. Bleh. It's nice to be snowed in sometimes.

If your natural dyestuff comes from bark or roots, you're going to want to let it steep overnight to get the most bang for your buck. I filled my dyepot halfway with water and added 8oz of sawdust. My yarn came to 7oz total weight, and for Brazilwood you want to have pretty close to 1:1 ratio. I would rather not have 1oz bag of woodchips lying around, so I just threw the whole thing in. Ahhh, the exact science of natural dyes.



I wear a mask while adding the shavings. You get a lot of dust coming up before the wood gets soaked, and it's not really all that good to breath that in. Natural dyes usually have mysterious warning labels of not being FDA approved- do not breath, ingest or touch. Or what will happen? I'm kind of curious to find out, but I tend to take these warnings seriously.

Bring the dyepot to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Let it simmer for at least an hour. Cut the heat and let the dye steep overnight.

The next day, you have to get all those woodchips out. I used a mesh strainer. I make a mess.



You can save the chips, let them dry out and re-use them if you would like. You won't get as strong of a color out of them, but they will give you more.

Throw the strained dyestock back into the pot. Add your mordanted yarn. Add water to cover. Once again, you want to gently bring this to a simmer while occasionally rotating the yarn to promote even color uptake. Heat will set the dye, so you want to simmer this for at least an hour. Once that it is done, cut the heat. Throw the lid on. You can take the yarn out in a couple hours when it is cool enough to handle and rinse, or you can leave the yarn in the dye overnight if you want a darker shade. I took the overnight route with this batch.



The next day, I then fill the bathtub with warm water and soap. I carefully rinse the yarn to get as much excess dye as possible. Some dyes will leech more than others and you might have to repeat the process. This bled hardly at all. However, I did find that the strainer did not get all the wood chips out and they ended up in the yarn. No worries, as soon as it is dry it can be shook out.

I give the yarn a final rinse in a little vinegar and then hang to dry. Voila!

I've been dealing with crap lighting and stormy skyes all week, so no FO picture yet. I'll keep you in suspense for a bit.