A Migraine Day, Natural Dyes and Tasha Tuesday

First coffee of the day at 3pm usually means one thing - I'm recovering from a migraine headache.

Migraines make for such wasted days, or so it can seem at times. I don't get them so often in the last decade as I did before I had my son, but when I do get them, it's brutal. I try everything in my holistic cabinet to curb them when I feel that hazy, odd sensation of one coming on. If nothing helps, however, I call out the big guns of modern medicine. Migraine is one of the very few things I take modern medicine for, and I think that is okay. I believe holistic and modern medicines can co-exist for optimum health. 

Another thing that must co-exist, at least to me, for optimum health is creativity and nature. I'm a big fan of Audrey Eclectic's Tasha Tuesdays because let's face it, who doesn't love Tasha Tudor? Her art and life are so inspiring, especially the love of nature, simplicity, and being creative. With Tasha in mind, a few weekends ago I decided to try my hand at some natural dyeing experiments! Since Dandelions are one of the most prevalent flowers in my area (and full of healing goodness!) I decided to try these first. So Mother's Day morning, we took a long walk to gather dandelion blossoms, which I was so very glad to do after a few weeks of limited distance of walking due to surgery on my foot (all healed up now!)

 It was a beautiful morning to be out in nature, in a favorite nearby meadow. We came home with yellow-stained fingers and happy souls and began the process of boiling the blossoms. I was testing the dye on a white cotton tee I've had for some time and am quite fond of. It was soaking in a water and vinegar mix while the 'brew' readied on the stove.

After a bit, I strained out the blossoms and put the shirt in the liquid to soak overnight. The results? Not very impressive. My blinding white tee was now a dingy color; however, it did take the dye! I just needed about three times the amount of dandelion blossoms that I'd used to accomplish the soft, buttery color I was going for.

Because I couldn't toss a perfectly good, albeit old, tee for being dingy when I'd made it that way, I decided last weekend to save it with some black dye that I've had and never got around to using. Partner that with rubber bands and voila! A few other things went into the mix as well!

I was disappointed my experiment wasn't more successful, but at least I know the dandelion blossoms will work as dyes! It's going to be a lot of trial and error, but we'll have fun with it this summer. I follow some awesome gals on Instagram who are always inspiring me, and I've learned just this week that you can dye with avocado pits! And goodness knows, as much as I love avocados, there are enough pits around here! So soon I'll be visiting my LYS (Local Yarn Shop for all you non-knitters out there!) and picking up some natural homespun to experiment a little more with!

Nature + creativity...there's no end to where it can take you! There is so much wonder and magic and new fun things to always be trying out! I think Tasha would certainly agree!

"Life isn't long enough to do all you could accomplish. And what a privilege even to be alive. In spite of all the pollutions and horrors, how beautiful this world is. Supposing you only saw the stars once every year. Think what you would think. The wonder of it!” ― Tasha Tudor