Lichens & An Earflap

I was home again today. The roads were much better but I still didn't trust my truck after last Friday's experience. I am fully tired of staying home! There are times were I fantasize about staying home and doing fiber related stuff all day. I am temporarily cured of this desire.
I took one of the lichens gathered from the pre-Christmas storm and tentatively identified it as Usnea hirti.










I put about this much in a pot then realized I needed to pulveize the lichen first.



I am making a note that I'm using a teflon coated pot which could have an effect on the color. I chose to simmer it in water for about 2 hours. No color yet. What was encouraging when I looked in my lichen dyeing book was that Usnea hurti yields purples. Well, I don't see any evidence of that yet. There is also the option of letting it sit for about 2 weeks. I'll have to figure it out.
Here's the lichen dyeing book and 2 field guides with photos (the only way I can identify things...drawings don't seem to help me much.)





And I forced myself to start on the earflaps last night. I had to rip out the first one and although this one should probably be refined, I think I might stick with it. I need to do some edging. I tried crochet and it looked hokey. I can try that again trying to be very neat. (I'm not really a crocheter.) Or I might have to knit edging and sew it on. I can't face picking up stitches but maybe I'll get over the phobia if nothing else works.






I know now what would have been a better way to approach the earflap but I still have hopes that this will work out.