This category details experiments with different types of fibers
This week I’m concentrating on using up materials I already have and finishing projects already started. This ones for my nephew. I hope it fits. BTW, the pattern is available on Ravelry.com. It is the Maze and Chevron Hat by Deborah Bennett.
Read more "Stash Busting"So the weather has turned cool again, and by the look of the forecast, it’s going to stay that way. It’s a good thing I just got my son’s hood and mittens finished. He is totally cold blooded and thinks he’s going to freeze to death when the temperature hits 70F. It’s not an inspiring […]
Read more "Just In Time"Several months ago I bought a sample card from Paradise Fibers with a whole bunch of different wool and silk fibers. I wondered, after Kaleeb’s and my experiments with natural dyes (in which the commercial wool took up the dyes much more intensely than my hand-spun), whether the breed of sheep made a large difference […]
Read more "Onions!"I’m having quite a bit of trouble with fiber preparation. I’m working on learning to comb wool for worsted spinning using a set of English combs and the kid mohair that my husband and friends conspired to get for me at Sheep-Con (that’s what my husband calls the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival) last year. […]
Read more "Fiber preparation"I had a bit of time sans kids and husband, so I knocked out quite a few colors. Same procedure as before, one small spoonful of dye powder to 4 cups of water and 1/4 cup of vinegar, 6 yard skeins, pulled every 5 minutes. The russet, emerald, and turquoise were opaque at the start […]
Read more "Dyeing for Color Part II"Ok, so after struggling with the very small dye powder weights and thinking that I was going to need to get and analytical scale to be able to do small dye lots… I found this wonderful site http://www.gfwsheep.com/rov.inst/rov.inst.html. There they suggest making up concentrated batches in gallon containers and diluting from there… Duh! Only one […]
Read more "Reinventing the Wheel"It’s spring and nature is spreading color all over the place (mostly green pollen all over my car). Since Spring Break is here, and a little bit of extra time with it, I thought I’d do my part to help. Last week I prepped ahead and ordered 10 Jacquard Acid Dyes from Sheepish Creations at […]
Read more "Dyeing for Color Part 1: Purple and Gold"