Christie MacArthur, Quebec, 1976:
My father always kept twenty sheep. They'd shear in the spring,
and then if there was a black sheep you'd keep the wool from the
black sheep and perhaps two of the white ones, and mix it to make
grey. And other times they'd dye the wool...hey used to make the
dye out of goldenrod [Solidago vigaurea,], the flower in the wild...
They also bought a lot of the dyes.
Kay MacLeod Young:
My mother, even in her day, she did the complete job from the sheep
to the bed. She used to make all her own wool-for the blankets it
was the natural colour except for contrasting threads. They dyed
that in blues and reds.
See books:
The Last Stronghold and Oatmeal
and the Catechism (detailed index)
Description, photographs and transcriptions of tape-recordings
