Blendy Blendy Blendy

Color play continues, as I plan for the KoolAid dyeing class. Yesterday I dyed a class-sized sample (about an ounce) of superwash roving to test out the eyedropper method of dye application, wrapping the roving in cling wrap and microwaving to set.

I used only three colors- Blue Raspberry Lemonade, Cherry, and generic yellow food color. Each diluted in about 1/3 cup of water. I found that an eyedropper provided really nice control for color placement, and allowed me to overlap and develop secondary colors, while still leaving areas of white. Important to make sure the the pre-wetted roving is pretty well wrung out before starting to limit spread and dilution of the color in the wool. The roving looked compressed while still wet, but is re-fluffing nicely now that it is almost dry.

I especially love how prominent the electric greens are 🙂

My other color project this week was carding up the acid dyed fiber from the Spindrifters Dye day in September in primary colors

and blending to create intermediate shades

I only had about an ounce of each primary, so each intermediate color sample is about .25 ounce, with ratios of 1:3, 2:2, 3:1 . Each bit got 4 runs through the drum carder, and I’ve also worked on the green range a bit on the hand cards to get the yellow more fully incorporated. Might do the same with the oranges and purples before I do any spinning. But I’m so excited about the results. 🙂

Out in the pasture we just got the “storm windows” (hoophouse plastic) put up on the shed, so all the critters have more protection from wind and rain as we move in to the dark and wet season.

Also set up a dirt bath for the chickens in a galvanized washtub, since it’s harder for them to find nice dry soil to roll around in this time of year. Hopefully they will appreciate this gesture and hook me up with some eggs. Haven’t seen any seen any in a while, so it’s possible that the chicken girls have developed a new hiding spot. I’m going to have to go out there and do some hunting- think like a chicken!

Have a good week folks-