Chapter 297 Dye

Starting from the first month of the year, the temperature continued to drop. When the average temperature remained below zero, the two of them updated their winter equipment.

The winter clothes I prepared earlier were brought back from Meishan. They are enough for the current temperature, but if the temperature drops to minus ten degrees Celsius in a while, it will definitely be cold again.

When Zhao Yeqing was planning to go back to the mountains, he only brought a down jacket. With normal weather in Meishan, the coldest temperature is only minus five or six degrees Celsius, so a down jacket and a base shirt are enough.

Now this is not enough.

Last year, we both wrapped ourselves tightly in three layers of clothing. After all, we were not from the north and had poor resistance to cold. It was difficult for us to move around when wrapped so thickly.

Zhao Yeqing brought his down jacket from Meishan this year, thinking of optimizing his base layer, taking advantage of the recent good weather, which although cooled down, did not rain or snow.

The animal furs were used to make clothing, including clothes, pants, hats, gloves, socks, etc. The furs that needed to be dried in the sun could also be dried in good weather.

Last year, Mu Xi incorporated rabbit fur into boots, which had an immediate warming effect. Last year, the two also made scarves and vests. This year, with more experience, they thought about making other things as well.

Mu Xi went to deal with the large pieces of fur. He was the one who made the vest last year, so the large pieces of clothing were given to him.

Zhao Yeqing was preparing to deal with the scarred bear skin that almost cost her her life.

The black bear attracted by the honey was first restrained by two leopards on its back, leaving scratches and bite marks on it, and then it was chopped to pieces by Zhao Yeqing.

The entire bear skin was scarred, with scratches and holes everywhere.

But after all, it is a large animal, so it is still possible to find a larger piece of complete fur to make something.

After removing the battle-scarred parts, the remaining leather can be made into two hats or four pairs of gloves.

Both of these are relatively easy to make, and they are definitely wearable once they are made, but their aesthetics are not guaranteed.

In the end, Zhao Yeqing decided to make a hat. After all, gloves required less leather, and by then, the leftover leather from Mu Xi's clothes might be enough to make two pairs of gloves.

The hat is made of a round top and a long curved strip. Zhao Yeqing wanted to make it look better, so he sewed a layer of rabbit fur inside and wrapped the edges with rabbit fur.

For the remaining small pieces of rabbit fur, Zhao Yeqing went to the original owner's house, took out the medicinal herbs that Mu Xi had stored, and used them to dye the rabbit fur.

Many medicinal herbs are natural dyes. For example, safflower, which promotes blood circulation and dissipates blood stasis, can dye a beautiful red color. There is also Japanese knotweed, which many sleep aid bloggers use.

When the Japanese knotweed is chopped down from top to bottom, the cracking sound is very crisp, and it is very relaxing to watch.

The root of Polygonum cuspidatum is also a traditional Chinese medicine. It can relieve cough and promote blood circulation, and it is also a natural yellow dye.

In addition, the common Schisandra chinensis is a black dye, while Indigofera tinctoria, Polygonum tinctoria and Isatis tinctoria can all be used to make blue dyes. Indigo in ancient times was a mixture of powdered branches and leaves of these three.

Winter is already dull, so Zhao Yeqing found some things to soak, boil, or grind and mix dyes of different colors, then put the furs in to dye and dry them in the sun.

The result was a small bag of small pieces of rabbit fur in various colors.

Then, according to the color matching, sew the furs of different colors onto the black bear skin hat.

The edge of the black hat is covered with white rabbit fur, and colorful rabbit fur blocks are sewn on top, making the originally dull black bear fur hat a little cuter.

After trying it on, Zhao Yeqing was very satisfied and put another more fancy one on Mu Xi's head.

Mu Xi accepted it calmly without any struggle. He had already discovered this woman's bad taste in this regard, just like the big red cotton-padded jacket of Xiangyun last year.

She seemed very keen on dressing him in clothes that were very different from his usual style.

Apart from anything else, Zhao Yeqing is very talented in making this hat, and the style is no worse than the one you buy.

Although the bear skin no longer smells after being processed, the leather is not as soft as the ones you buy. The rabbit fur she sewed inside and on the edges makes up for this shortcoming very well.

Not only is the inside softer, but the outer circle also doesn't make the leather of the hat appear too stiff.

Mu Xi's progress in making clothes was slower. By the time Zhao Yeqing's two hats were finished, he had only finished cutting half of the clothes.

The clothes this time are made very thick, so it takes a little more time.

Apart from eating, drinking and feeding the livestock, the two of them now spend the rest of their time hibernating in the house.

The two estimated the amount of fuel needed for the entire winter and counted the amount of firewood and coal at home. Zhao Yeqing slowly rocked the rocking chair and said:

"Apart from the firewood needed for cooking, if we start using the floor heating now, the firewood will probably be enough for three months."

The coal is reserved for the family's breeding basement, but as long as the temperature does not drop too much and the cold weather does not last too long, the coal will most likely not be used.

However, the planting basement may require some heat source to keep the temperature inside at least above ten degrees so that the vegetables can grow normally.

The temperature has been dropping since the beginning of the Chinese New Year for nearly a month. There has not been a single snowfall, only gusts of cold wind. This is very different from last year's situation when it suddenly snowed and the temperature dropped.

At noon now, the temperature is only minus five degrees Celsius. Although it is not so cold that your breath turns into ice, as soon as you go out and open your mouth to speak, a layer of white fog will appear in front of you.

Zhao Yeqing was wearing a bear-skin hat on his head, and the white mist from his breath floated onto the rabbit fur, and soon a layer of white frost formed on each strand of the rabbit fur.

Her skin, which was tanned in the summer, would turn white in the winter. Now, she was collecting the dustpans outside in the yard. Without gloves, her knuckles were frozen red. It might not have been noticeable before, but now it was particularly obvious because of her white skin.

Mu Xi was cooking in the kitchen. The temperature was not low now, so the two of them continued to cook in the kitchen, which would also reduce the smoke in the room.

I won’t want to cook outside after a while, and I can’t eat food with strong odors when cooking in the room.

Mu Xi knew that she liked dishes with heavier flavors, so while he could still cook in the kitchen, he used hot pot base, melted the butter, and then put the chopped chicken in.

The overbearing smell of the hot pot base rushed straight into Zhao Yeqing's nose, and he sneezed as soon as he walked into the kitchen.

Mu Xi looked up and wanted to tell her to come in later, but when he looked up, he saw her red hands from the cold, and his brows immediately frowned.

"Why aren't you wearing gloves?"

"I just tried to get a dustpan, but I didn't expect the wind to be so cold."

It's easy to get frostbite in this weather if you're not careful, so Mu Xi put her hands in the boiling water and used the steam to slowly warm them up.

Seeing that he didn't look like he was going to get frostbite, he felt relieved. Thinking of what Zhao Yeqing had just said, he asked, "Which dustpan did you get just now?"