Blog

Yesterday was the spinning guild dye day. We were lucky to have beautiful weather- sunny but not too warm. About as good as it gets around here in late September!

We had a lot of different things going- acid dyes in primary colors for a planned color blending study, and on the natural dye side-madder, osage orange, tansy, logwood, walnut leaf/dahlia, and cochineal, plus my indigo and Dyer’s Chamomile/onion skin/calendula pot.

I would have taken pictures of the scene, with all the various pots simmering away, but I was occupied pretty much all day managing the indigo set-up.

I went over to Valerie’s house Friday to deliver all the tools and materials, and also to cook up the chamomile/onionskin/calendula stock ahead of time so it would be all ready to go on Saturday morning. That turned out to be a great strategy. I let it simmer for a couple hours, then put a lid on it and let it stew and cool gradually overnight. In the morning just had to strain out the solids (chiffon fabric is a great strainer) and bring it back up to temperature, so it was ready to go pretty quickly.

It was a really fun day, with folks getting great results from all the different pots.

I should have kept track of how much fiber went through the indigo vessels, but it all went by too fast. It must have been at least a couple of pounds of wool. I used up about 2 gallons of the indigo solution. Amazing how much mileage I’m getting out of that vat from June!

When everyone had dipped as much as they cared to, I shifted to dyeing some of the white superwash Spincycle mill end roving that was donated to the guild. I think that we got about 10-12 ounces of that “blued” as well.

When I got home, I washed everything up, gave it a quick spin in the washing machine, and put it out in the hoophouse to dry. Voila!

Yarns in the photo, from left to right: walnut leaf/dahlia on Fiona, camomile/onion/calendula on Fiona, camomile/onion/calendula on misc oatmeal colored cool, madder on misc oatmeal colored cool, and one more camomile/onionskin/calendula on misc oatmeal colored cool. (everything cold mordanted with Aluminum Triformate for a week)

All the roving is the superwash Spincycle white wool: madder, indigo and cochineal, plus the acid dye blue and yellow in the back.

There was really good turnout, and I think that folks had a lot of fun and came away with beautifully colored goods.

So glad it all came together and we were able to pull it off before the weather turned.

Today is rainy, but it feels refreshing and restful. 🙂

Attended a Spindrifters meeting yesterday, where we sorted out the many details around next Saturday’s Dye Day event for the guild.

I am going to take my remaining indigo solution and everything necessary to get the bath tuned up for wool dipping. Also going to cook up a pot Dyer’s Chamomile to round out the natural dye options. It would like we’re going to have cochineal, a walnut and dahlia recipe that yields a lovely pumpkin color, and perhaps some madder or logwood (?) Should be a lot of fun!

Today I thought I should probably do a trial run to see how long it takes me to get a vessel of the indigo solution prepped and ready to use. Also, to give me an idea of how much thiox and washing soda it will take per gallon or so.

It looks like need about 1.5 -2 hours of prep time, 2 tbsp of washing soda to adjust the pH, and about a teaspoon of thiox to get it reduced. And all told, I think I dyed about a pound of wool before the bath started feeling kind of tapped out. So I’m feeling like we should be in pretty good shape for folks to get some good results next Saturday.

Also did about 6 oz of taupe/brown shetland fleece, which was soaking in a mild vinegar bath and missed out on the photo.

The wool felt sheets that I dyed today are one of the goodies I picked up at the meeting this weekend. A longtime Spindrifter (thank you Linda!!) is doing some serious de-stashing/dowsizing, and I came away with some tremendous goodies.

I was amazed to see in the give-away pile a whole collection of unspun yarn (aka pencil roving)! All natural colors, and of a few different makes, I believe (White Buffalo, Plotulopi, perhaps others?)

It is going to be so fun to play with!

I also finally got around to washing Dottie fleece from this spring. Here are the goods air drying in the hoophouse (where I was alternately playing with indigo and tending/harvesting veg today) I do love her wool.

This is an old photo (2017) of Dottie that i think is especially cute

I should go and give her some treats.

Have a good week, folks-

The veg keeps rolling in- tho cukes are about tapped out (finally!). And pears are ready to go as well. The tiny tree does produce an impressive amount of fruit each year (just a sampling below)

We are acting quickly to try and use as much of it as possible, drying some and also making pear butter, which we’ll freeze for future use. They don’t last long once ripe!

In wool news, i did a little trial run on dyeing with my dried Dyer’s Chamomile last weekend, using Aluminim Triformate mordant

Sample amounts of Dottie and Fiona wool (about an ounce each) and equal weight of dried flowers

rehydrating the flowers took longer than I expected!

Started with my food warmer unit, but had to up the heat to get it properly simmering, so upped the ante to the big dye pot and propane burner-

I got pretty good color out of the flowers

and the results on the fleece-

It definitely took more strongly to the tips of the locks. I had only left the wool in the mordant overnight, so perhaps could have gotten a stronger color from a long mordanting period, and also a longer stay in the dye bath (?). I admit I could have been a little more patient 🙂

Here are my results carded up- a nice lemony shade, and a good mossy/mustardy green!

More colors for the fair isle yarn palette!

And speaking of fair isle- work continues on the Dark Alcott-again Cardigan

Having fun playing it by ear with the color combinations. Momo seems to be enjoying this project as well-

I figure I’ve got a couple more inches to go before I start shaping for v-neck and armholes.

Have a good week, folks-

You might remember our friend Thor/Cookie Monster, who arrived on our doorstep last winter and resided for a time in the hoophouse.

She went to live with a friend in Samammish in January, became known as Momo, and things were going well until a recent move found them in closer quarters with no other feline company.

Momo seemed to have a hard time adjusting to the new situation, and was acting out. We decided that perhaps she’d be happier back in more rural surroundings, so I went down yesterday to retrieve her.

The Universal Cat Distribution System has struck again 🙂

In other news, the garden is providing lots of tomato sauce ingredients

Sheep are enjoying prunings from apple trees

And I’m doing a trial run on dyeing with Dyer’s Chamomile, in preparation for a dye day our spinning guild is hosting on Sept 20

Going to try my hand at mordanting with Aluminum Triformate, and see what kind of color I can achieve from the dried flowers. It’s supposed to yield a really nice strong yellow- anxious to see how that looks on Dottie’s silvery grey wool.