The Fiber Witch

The Fiber Witch The Fiber Witches mission is to inspire a deeper connection to the fiber arts by honoring the ancient link between handcraft and hearth-magic.
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We foster a space for learning, selling, and socializing that celebrates the enchantment in every thread.

Untangling this mess.   It’s my own fault.  This is what happens when you get overconfident and don’t do enough ties bef...
06/04/2026

Untangling this mess. It’s my own fault. This is what happens when you get overconfident and don’t do enough ties before dyeing lol. (Like I just did) 😂. I see it as winding up a scrying ball 🧶.

This yarn is for the sweater I’m making for my husband still. As you can see from the picture this is lac dyed closer to a neutral on Knit Picks Twill yarn. The scraps left on the spool 🧵 in the back is the same yarn dyed in an acidic bath Closer to 5ph.

When I get overwhelmed with the winding I’m stopping in between to spin up some of the walnut husk wool of the Andes roving. Idk what for yet but we shall see. In a previous post I did say I have been obsessed with making hair ties with my hand spun lately.

I also dyed some merino wool roving with coffee. I’m planning to maybe try thread plying with that and see what happens. I plan to maybe make a coffee bean scarf or something.

🧶 Save 15%off on the Knit Picks website with discount code AKPfiberwitch at checkout

So.   The first mushroom is a little brown mushroom.   Which is just an unidentified brown mushroom.   Yeas.  It’s a rea...
06/01/2026

So. The first mushroom is a little brown mushroom. Which is just an unidentified brown mushroom. Yeas. It’s a real term lol. Second photo is another mushroom that should make a good dye but I only brought a small specimen home to study and try to figure out what it is. Then there is also pokew**d a future dye source, broad leaf dock, and a cousin of chamomile called pineapple w**d.

So many new plants and mushrooms for me to study today. I also found what I beleive to be a tinder mushroom and I collected enough of that one to dye with. I didn’t take a picture of the tinder mushroom yet

I’m currently drying Avacado skins for dyeing and also eggshells as a ph modifier (can be used in place of calcium carbonate in natural dyeing.). I also use the crushed eggshells as a plant fertilizer for all my plants. And to keep the slugs away.

Once my plants get bigger and stronger. I will be doing some chemistry to maybe extract the calcium directly from the shells so it can be a faster absorbed calcium fertilizer for my plants. It’s just with that one. You need to match the growth stage from where it’s at. So when they are still small and growing. They need to absorb it slower. Which is why I only use powdered eggshells with the babies lol.

Was planning on doing a reel for this initially but I wasn’t feeling well enough to be on camera today.   But.   This is...
05/31/2026

Was planning on doing a reel for this initially but I wasn’t feeling well enough to be on camera today. But. This is my updated alter/fiberworkspace. I need to still get shelving to add above and some more shadow boxes for some of my squares waiting to be pinned and displayed. But. I have a decent amount building up. Right now I’m focusing on dyeing wool for color. So I can choose to either use it for spinning or needlefelting. I feel it helps me to have a decent amount of colors built up so I can do blending and stuff to get more multi tonal colors and do shades and stuff. (Mostly for my needlefelting. I like my needlefelting to look kind of realistic a lot of the time).

I have some more jars of wool colors stored away in my cabinet. Just waiting to be displayed on the shelf alongside my modifiers, fermentations, and the statue. I found myself using Knit Picks wool of the Andes as a base for the majority of my wool. With my last shipment I also got some merino that I am dyeing with coffe to make my husband a coffe bean scarf for winter all handspun. Of corse I will update on all of this as it progresses.

Often times I have multiple projects going on at once so I can kind of choose what project fits the mood of what I’m feeling in the moment. For example. Today. Not feeling 100% so today is not the day to be typing up patterns or doing complex stitching patterns. So instead this morning I have spent my time needlefelting myself some wall decor.

Save 15% off on the knit Picks website with discount code AKPfiberwitch at checkout.

Started spinning up the mushroom dyed fiber.   I love it even more now.   The color shifting with this dye is crazzzyyy....
05/31/2026

Started spinning up the mushroom dyed fiber. I love it even more now. The color shifting with this dye is crazzzyyy. In certain lights it looks off white and in others it can look yellow or a yellow orange or peach. I will be using this mushroom again in the future for sure.

Spinning up some of my cats fur on break.    I may brush out the previous skein I did of it to re spin it into this.   M...
05/29/2026

Spinning up some of my cats fur on break. I may brush out the previous skein I did of it to re spin it into this. Mostly because I spin better now then when I first started.

I also noticed. When spinning short staple cat fur like my cat. 🐈‍⬛ it’s good to do a looooot of hand or finger picking. It helps to get the dandruff out. Then. Before spinning. It helps to kind of roll it together in your hands a bit to create a sense cloud to spin from.

Also it is important to note. Drafting only the length of the individual fiber itself. So with short staple you would have more drafts and more twists then a longer coat

Also. It’s important to be aware of how silky and sleek cat fur is. It dosnt have the crimp or scales that wool has to make it hold on to itself. So. A thakli style support spindle is purrrrrfect for this lol

Also. Note. The hawk eye herb where I’m living is starting to flower lol. First day I have noticed it. A new plant I started studying this year

Soooo.    What I think is Platterful mushroom 🍄‍🟫. A surprise with dyeing.   Using this mushroom created a pale yellow d...
05/29/2026

Soooo. What I think is Platterful mushroom 🍄‍🟫. A surprise with dyeing. Using this mushroom created a pale yellow dyebath that didn’t seem to change the color of the wool at all at first. But when modified with iron it shifted to this beautiful orange yellow color!!! I absolutely love it. 😍

I foraged this mushroom locally with my friend Toaster Punklesnoif

(Ps. Don’t eat what I identify. Remember I use my wild foraged mushrooms primarily as a dyesource).

30 yards of husky fiber all plied up.  Now to move on the my mushroom dyeing wool project.   May also go on a hike in th...
05/28/2026

30 yards of husky fiber all plied up. Now to move on the my mushroom dyeing wool project. May also go on a hike in the woods to stockpile dyestuff. Working on gathering some sassafras roots right now. Which really smells like root beer lol. I don’t like the smell of root beer lol

Spinning up some husky fur this morning.   I love this fiber so much.   It is super soft because it is the brushed out u...
05/27/2026

Spinning up some husky fur this morning. I love this fiber so much. It is super soft because it is the brushed out undercoat. Awesome thing is it looks so different from the other husky fur I have spun in the past. I can’t wait to see what I make with this. First I have to finish the yarn. I have a single done and I’m working on the second.

Currently working on dyeing with this mushroom I found today.   The Platterful Mushroom.  I also found false Turkeytail ...
05/27/2026

Currently working on dyeing with this mushroom I found today. The Platterful Mushroom. I also found false Turkeytail and harvested some sassafras roots to experiment dyeing with. Taking my time processing the sassafras roots because they smell like root beer. And I really don’t like root beer lol. I went on a 6 hour walk total today. I really love my days off from work lol

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