But before we could start, we had to collect some birch leaves first. There is a valley nearby called "Birkental" ("birch valley"), but it features disappointingly few birches and most of the ones growing there had their branches so high that we couldn't reach them. So here we were, somewhere in middle-western Germany, struggling to get birch leaves. Had we decided to use beech leaves - no problem, there's plenty of those. And neither would it have been a problem if we actually were in Sweden, close to the island which bears the very name "birch island"...
But in the end we found enough birch leaves (~4.2kg) to dye our wool. We dyed one 1.5mx2m piece of 2/2-twill, two shorter leftover pieces (diamond twill woven in two different colours and tabby weave) and also seven yarns, two of which left unplied. We added an acidic iron solution to some to change the colour from yellow to green.
We really love the results. They remind me of birches in autumn. Unfortunately, we used all my white yarn, so I have to comb and spin again... will it ever end?
