Dying Socks with Cortinarius sanguinius (Blood-red Cortinarius)

Mostly dried out at work on a hot pipe but I finished the drying in a pan with a saucer of silica gel beads and lid on top.

I ground them up with a pestle and mortar then essentially followed this procedure: http://www.wildcolours.co.uk/html/starting_to_dye.html 

The one on the left is dyed using iron sulphate as a mordant whilst the one on the right I used sodium chloride (table salt) as the mordant. I was hoping for a brighter red like this woman has managed: http://shroomworks.wordpress.com/2008/12/20/80/ . She has recommended using wool or silk and to use 'Alum' as the mordant. I also didn't scour the socks properly before dying which I guess might have contributed to faded colour.

After a couple of hand washes they both faded more

Eating Scarlet Elfcup (Sarcoscypha sp.)

These were very good mushrooms to eat:

I don't know similar species but I GUESS here in the UK they are a safe choice just from the lack of warnings I've come across on the internet. I only ate a few of them first time just to be on the safe(r) side. There is at least one other species that looks like the ones I found and so I'm unsure of the exact species but I'll say they are Sarcoscypha coccinea. Apparently you need a microscope to differentiate between the different Scarlet Elfcup species.

The orange ones are either a colour morph of Sarcoscypha coccinea or they could be another species. According to experts on wildaboutbritain.co.uk to tell the difference you need a microscope

I washed them in warm water to get rid of moss and dirt. I let the water drip off them for a couple of minutes to store them in the fridge in a covered Pyrex dish

 First off I fried some up quickly for about a minute and had them in a cheese and salad sandwich. My sister commented they taste just like regular shop bought mushrooms (button mushrooms or whatever). I think I agree. Two days later I had the ones pictured as part of a fried breakfast but fried for maybe 2-3minutes. Then I did this again on the 15th Feb

Smoking Catnip (Nepeta cataria)

Embarrassing as it is, I tried this last night due to the fact I'm a social recluse and have no weed contacts... I had no skins so emptied out a cigarette with a skewer and packed it fairly tight with catnip buds (I thought these would be the strongest part) using a random metal rod to pack it tight. The buds were pretty dry, I'd just harvested most of the seeds the day before then chopped them off the plant. When I was packing the buds into the empty cigarette I found occasional patches of oil on the paper. Maybe this was from the catnip, or maybe something else.

Erowid doesn't say anything about human consumption: http://www.erowid.org/herbs/catnip/ Some sites say it has a mild effect. I've found sites saying it can be brewed up as tea. Other sites say it's used for insomnia to help you get to sleep.

It had no definite effect on me, I managed to get to sleep pretty quick afterwards but that's at least partly to do with caffeine withdrawal.

Next time, if there is a next time I'll brew up a tea with it instead as I've read is preferable and might be stronger. Otherwise it would probably be a case of smoking two or three cigarettes-worth to be affected.