Category: Blog

Sorry. Couldn’t resist the Bladerunner reference.

But really- that’s today’s story!

I don’t think I mentioned this earlier, but The Man got me an EarthHues dyeing kit for my birthday this year, and I’ve been really anxious to give it a go.
But first I needed a big pot. And a burner.

This weekend it finally all came together!
Here is the setup:

And here is the yarn and fleece all snug in the pot with the alum solution getting mordanted:

I left in in there overnight to cool out, then got a start with the actual dyeing this morning.

First up, Quebracho Red!

Filling the pot-

Dissolving the extract-

And everything in the pot!

the second pot was going to be just Pomegranate, but it seemed to me once it had been cooking a while that it was too khaki, and not enough yellow, so I added some Weld.

And here are the results-

Or most of them anyway. I did some fleece too, but it is all jumbled and messy looking right now and didn’t want to be photographed until it made itself more presentable 😉

Pretty pretty pretty.

I think I’m hooked.

Next up- madder and indigo!

And, here is the mystery knitting project of the week(s)

Anyone have an idea what it is?

Because I’m not sure myself!

I never publicly stated a goal pace.
But I had in mind a number.

1.

One ounce a day.
6 days a week.
And one day to ply.

It seemed so reasonable.
So right.

At this pace, I could spin all the yarn for the Classic Oak Cardigan in 5 weeks.

That would leave me lots and lots of time for knitting.
Which is good, because it gets harder to find knitting time in the summer months (too much outside work competing for my time).

And last week it all worked out according to plan.
2 skeins. about 280 yards total.

Plied, washed and hanging to dry on Sunday evening.

This week I almost made it.

2 skeins. Plied, but not yet washed. Waiting on the windowsill.

I might get them washed before bed tonight.

But then I’m stuck.

You see, I don’t have my ounce a day ready to go for tomorrow.

I forgot to build carding time into my schedule!

Dag. Rookie mistake.

I might have to take time off my day job to get back on track.
Just kidding.

Or maybe not. 🙂

Two sunny weekends in a row.
In April.

And the Mariners are 6 and 5.

The sheeps are really psyched.

Don’t they look excited? 🙂

Chone still has his baggy pants, and various other straggly bits, but I keep forgetting to finish up his haircut. Oops.

Got a few other projects done though- like fencing the compost

to keep sweet Sadie pup out,

and tying up the raspberries

Some other weekend highlights:

Sadie asking for a fetch

Walla and Boo Kitten are working on their synchronized prowling

Coffee in the yet un-prepared garden with Sadie and Clara.

And yarn drying on the breeze in the almost-blooming cherry tree:

2 skeins down, 8 or so to go!

Ah, the sun!
It got us all charged up this weekend.

The pups had lots of fun frolicking and carrying on, and we got lots of yard and sheep work done.

Only one still unshorn:

That would be the little crazy bugger, of course!

Could have gotten him done while we had them all in for manicures and such today, but I was just too tired to give it a shot.
Some time later this week maybe 🙂

And, I’ve finally gotten focused on my next sweater project!
The Classic Oak Cardigan, by Alexandra Charlotte Dafoe

I picked the pattern out a while back, but was uncertain of what yarn I was going to spin for it- or more specifically, which fleece.
But sometime this week it dawned on me- the thing to do was to blend a couple/few fleeces from the substantial wool stash to get just the right effect!

So here’s what I’ve got:

That’s Chone on the left, Jonasson Farms Border Leicester at the top, and Hidden Meadows CVM/suffolk cross at the bottom right.

And here they are all blended together:

The photo is a little bit washed out, it’s a little bit warmer and nuttier than that. More like this:

and this

The swatch turned out a little big- the so I’ve got to adjust my spinning mode from worsted to DK weight, but then I should be right in the ballpark.

(Go Ms!)