Sorry I missed last week. Had some technical difficulties. But hopefully that is behind us!
Spring is springing, and that always gets me in the mood to play with color. I started by diving into my available dyed stash, and hand carding up some small samples of muted blended colors
I spun those up into a sampler skein, each color bordered by the dark drown Daphne wool
It’s kind of a neat effect, but I definitely underestimated how much twist it needed- or maybe I ended up spinning it a bit thinner than I originally planned. Well, that’s what sampling is for, right? Was much more satisfied with my second attempts-
I think of these kinds of heathery blends as painterly colors. They will be a nice additions to my stash of Fair Isle project yarns. But this round of carding made me realize that I had some gaps in the woolly color wheel. ( the greenish shade above is the result of pretty thorough blending of blue and yellow fibers, as there was no green in the fiber stash)
So this week I did some more dyeing!
I had a few Wool Tinctures standing by, and was originally thinking that I’d get out the dye pot and fire up my propane burner,,,, but the weather wasn’t really cooperating. Not quite dyeing outside weather yet.
Then it occurred to me that I could probably use the Wool Tinctures in the microwave like I do with KoolAid. Just dissolve the dye teabag in a glass jar, add the citric acid (and some white vinegar for good measure), add it to the pre-wetted fleece in ziplock freezer bag, and microwave for 2 minutes or so.
And voila! Clockwise from upper left: Forage, Snap Pea, Pumpkin
So quick. So easy. I don’t know if I would recommend dying yarn this way, as I generally do get some color variation on the fibers,, but I really like that effect on the locks. And then you can blend it back together on the carder, or not. Like so-
They look so Spring-y 🙂
Out in the pasture, shearing has begun with Fiona- who is proving to be a bit of a challenge. Very felted along her back, but hopeful that I’ll get some nice, workable fleece from her sides at least. The wool itself is much softer and crimpier than previous years, so that’s a nice surprise.
She doesn’t look thrilled with her haircut so far. Hopefully phase two won’t be quite as tedious as getting the felted mat off her upper back was!