red shiso moonday

The knitted shoulder cozy has been done for a while but other than trying it on in front of the mirror, I haven't worn it yet -- cooler nights are fast approaching though. I like it a lot and am thinking about the heavier winter version now.

I've had my head in the dye-pot lately. Three little wool scraps got their "green on" with red shiso, Perilla frutescens! I'd pinched back my potted red shiso plant (to stimulate more bushy growth) so thought I might as well do a color trial with the leaves. I dropped those six or seven red shiso leaves into a small dye-pot, added about a half inch of water and a scrap of alum-mordanted wool, and simmered them all together for less than five minutes. The dark green was the amazing result. Then I added another alum-mordanted wool scrap for about a minute -- the medium green was that result. Finally a tiny scrap of unmordanted wool soaked up the remaining water to become the lightest green.

New red shiso leaves are dark burgundy in color and as they grow larger, begin to take on a bit of a greenish cast, but not very much. It was a big surprise to see green come of it -- even the water was pink. I'm learning a lot in my garden this year and writing notes to my future self for next year's plantings -- red shiso, it is.

Today is a still-full moonday in the sign of Pisces. If you saw the full moon in Aquarius last night, you might have noticed it was a super moon -- meaning it was the closest full moon to Earth for the year 2014. I'm not so sure I could really tell, but it was crystal clear and shone brightly, enough to make night shadows which never ceases to amaze. Pisces makes us feel more sensitive and intuitive and we might feel like taking time off from regular life. It also affects our feet -- kicking back with feet up sounds pretty good to me.

And if you like delightful surprises like I do, I'm wishing you a week full of them!