We had another unusually long, hot and dry summer in the Pacific Northwest with very little rain, which is perfect for dyeing and drying pine needles. Unfortunately, we also had several days of smoky air due to the wildfires in Canada, Washington and Oregon. Due to the smoke, I wore a face mask several days while outside dyeing pine needles, and realized that I should have been wearing a face mask all along while working with dye. Thankfully, the rain returned just as I was finishing drying the last batch of pine needles, and helped put out some of the wildfires. I am so grateful to see blue skies and have fresh air to breath again! 
This year I was trying to use up some of my not-so-perfect brown pine needles and give them a little facelift. I also used dried green pine needles. Some of the dye colors that I was using turned the pine needles a completely different color than what was stated on the bottle of dye. I just kept adding different colored dyes together along with vegetable glycerin, and was happily surprised to end with some beautiful earth tone colors. I also got a few batches of ombre colored pine needles. I am not sure how I got this effect, but it is really cool. I can't wait to make baskets with all of my pretty "happy accidents"!
Enjoy!
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