March 2007

March 18, 2007 - Dyed Wool



Here are photos of the wool, dyed and dried.
This one was dyed in the crockpot, braided.












And this is what it looks like, unbraided. I'm calling this one, "Bruised Grapes".









The following two were dyed and steamed. The top one was in the pantyhose leg when dyed (you can see that I missed a little bit of the "toe" -- about 1/2" is white). The bottom one was naked.

I'm not sure if putting it in the pantyhose was worth the effort. It was a bit easier to move in water for soaking, but I'm not sure if that is worth the cost of not really being able to see what was happening with the dyes when applying color. These are called "Cherries Jubilee".


Overall, I'm very pleased with the results!







March 17, 2007
Well, I've finally done it! Thanks to some web sites, and especially Purly-Qs, who responded to my email and gave me some great advice, I dyed some Corridale wool roving.


I decided to try a couple different ways to dye it. My father found a large crock pot at the thrift store, so dying it in was one method. Then I wanted to steam some in a large pot, after painting the roving.



I braided 3.4 ounces of roving for the crockpot (the one on the left in the photo). And split 3 ounces into two lengths -- one went into a leg of a pair of old pantyhose (center of photo) and the other "naked" (on right). They were soaked in a water/vinegar mixture for a couple of hours. The water was gently squeezed out, and the braid went into the crockpot.


Unfortunately, I didn't do a particularly good job of selecting colors when I bought them (maybe six years ago). So, I didn't have many colors that would mix well with each other.


But I did play with the colors a bit on a paper towel.





















Cushings dye, mixed in a water solution -- was squirted on the damp wool -- five different colors. Then added some of the water/vinegar solution. It was on high for a half hour, an hour on low, and then 1-1/2 hours on high.













Next, I dribbled dye on the rovings that were on Saran Wrap. (Left, roving in pantyhose. Right, naked roving)



Wrapped it up and steamed it for about 40 minutes (the dye was so dark). According to one source, the Saran was to puff up, but it did not. I thought it was better to steam more than less.

Everything cooled for at least five hours. They were rinsed, and there was only a little dye that wasn't fast. The rovings were washed in water and a bit of dishwashing soap, rinsed in water, and then rinsed in vinegar/water. Spun in the washer (in a mesh bag) and then laid out on a sweater dryer.

Tomorrow, photos of the dried, dyed roving!












March 11, 2007
Wow. It's been a long time since I wrote anything here.

A lot has gone on, and it may take me a few postings before I get around to putting it in words, here.

The PLAN is to eventually get blog software loaded so that this can be a real blog, instead of my own ramblings. But, these things seem to take more time than I expect. And instead of w a i t i n g, I thought it would be better to just post.

Thanks for your patience.



Well, another birthday has come and gone (like over two months ago), and I finally got around to photographing the ever popular lavender art work.

My SH makes these arrangements for me in the bowl of lavender. This version has the Michelin Man holding the ever popular "Happy Birthday Debbie, I'm glad your feet aren't webbie" sign.

And the cardinals are still wearing their mortar boards from graduation (I wish I had taken photos of the previous displays).







I have completed some knitting in the past few months. And my spinning has improved.






One of the completed projects is a moebius scarf, made out of some handspun I purchased (I believe at Stitches Midwest in 2005, wool and angora). I still need to figure out how many stitches I should cast on (in that crazy way that Cat Bordhi came up with - she must be a genius!). The first time I tried this, I ended up with a HUGE moebius. So, I frogged it and made it about half the size.

It's been worn a lot this winter, and since it is around my neck, it doesn't drag on the ground or get lost. Not that that has EVER happened with regular scarves...