leaf-knitting

Did you know dried blue malva flowers are nice in a moon bath? If you put the flowers in a little muslin bag and squeeze it in warm bathwater it'll turn the water blue but it won't turn you blue -- especially nice on a blue moon (the second full moon in a month). In case you're wondering we haven't had a blue moon since 2012 and the next one is July 31, 2015. I used to make gift blue moon bath kits -- and when I came across an old package of blue malva flowers in a plastic bin in the basement, I had my doubts that there would be any color left at all much less blue, but there's a touch of violet in that warm water. We'll see how some snippets of alum-mordanted wool look after a few days.

I've been knitting and loving woolly leaves for book markers and maybe a garland of some sort.

A little bundle of semi-dried thyme makes a perfect cup of tea. Five minutes in hot water also seemed to rehydrate the leaves and they look and smell good enough for a few more go 'rounds. Thyme tea for medicinal use would need to be infused much longer but I like it this way simply for its delicate taste. The bundle-in-a-cup method works nicely and there's no straining involved.  Now I'm thinking about which other herbs this technique would work with.

I read that tomatoes should be picked with stems intact to ripen better inside and these twosomes hang perfectly on the drying rack. Two rows, close to the floor in case they break away -- and the dogs are not one bit interested.

Thanks for visiting and happy weekending. See you Moonday! xo