Woolarina
Wednesday, July 28, 2004
dyeing madness
The theme of the week has been dyeing. kool aid, food coloring, even real dye. As a result, my living room is covered in fiber! Ready for knitting and spinning.
The darker stuff is some brown BFL I got for a fiber exchange, dyed with kool aid and food coloring. The purple is some plain old wool. Last weekend Kate and I spent some time dyeing fiber purple, with Gaywool Acid Dyes. The roving came out nice and bright! The others are kool aid dyed. The one on the left is some of my handspun, and the middle two are fisherman's wool that kate did.
Here are the two latest, both of which I plied last night:
I'm trying to spin thicker yarn, and the orange one seems to be getting around heavy worsted. It's about 60 yards. The greens are about 78 yards. This is part of a bunch of green mixy colors and some solid greens I dyed a few weeks ago. I was going to ply the solids with the mixies, so it would sort of match... completely forgot. Once I get around to spinning the rest, it'll have to be knit into something stripey!
The darker stuff is some brown BFL I got for a fiber exchange, dyed with kool aid and food coloring. The purple is some plain old wool. Last weekend Kate and I spent some time dyeing fiber purple, with Gaywool Acid Dyes. The roving came out nice and bright! The others are kool aid dyed. The one on the left is some of my handspun, and the middle two are fisherman's wool that kate did.
Here are the two latest, both of which I plied last night:
I'm trying to spin thicker yarn, and the orange one seems to be getting around heavy worsted. It's about 60 yards. The greens are about 78 yards. This is part of a bunch of green mixy colors and some solid greens I dyed a few weeks ago. I was going to ply the solids with the mixies, so it would sort of match... completely forgot. Once I get around to spinning the rest, it'll have to be knit into something stripey!
Thursday, July 22, 2004
merino!
so my first project for the Productive Spinners was to dye and spin my 8 oz. of Merino roving. I used just Kool-Aid for the dyeing, making for some pretty bright colors! I'll have to go back and dye the white skein some sort of color, but that will depend on what I decide to make with it. I'm sure I've got some of them posted already, but here's one last shot!
Now I get to dig into my new wool! :)
Now I get to dig into my new wool! :)
Wednesday, July 21, 2004
back from portland
I went to a wedding in Oregon, and to visit some friends, so didn't get a lot of knitting done. Or, at least, didn't get stuff done that I should have done. I did finish most of a bag to be felted on the airplane, as well as finishing two books, so not all was lost.
In lieu of getting new sandals to soothe my aching feet, I got these goodies from Fiber Arts Northwest. A half pound of superwash wool, another new spindle, and some Cushing's dye.
We did see this neat license plate while we were driving:
And another neat foto- the place we were staying at was *covered* in murals- even the pipes along the ceilings had faces painted on them! Very cool!
And for completeness, I suppose- a shot of Multnomah Falls to the East of Portland, and some roses from the International Rose Test Garden in Portland.
In lieu of getting new sandals to soothe my aching feet, I got these goodies from Fiber Arts Northwest. A half pound of superwash wool, another new spindle, and some Cushing's dye.
We did see this neat license plate while we were driving:
And another neat foto- the place we were staying at was *covered* in murals- even the pipes along the ceilings had faces painted on them! Very cool!
And for completeness, I suppose- a shot of Multnomah Falls to the East of Portland, and some roses from the International Rose Test Garden in Portland.
Friday, July 09, 2004
dyeing roundup
I am boggled by the variety of methods of dyeing wool. As easy and fun Kool-Aid dyeing is, it turns out these brilliant colors that I really wonder if I'd actually ever wear, as much fun as spinning and knitting with them is. Food coloring offers me a bit more hope in getting a better variety of colors, yet still offers that kool-aid brightness. Both of these (as well as Easter egg dyeing) use acetic acid/vinegar as a mordant, and perhaps salt as a leveler (to help the fibers absorb the dye more easily) and seem to be bleed-proof once they are heat set, in the microwave, stove, crockpot, or oven. I'm hoping! At the least, these methods are non-toxic, and you don't need any special equipment or ingredients.
I've been trying to figure out the world of "real" dyeing lately.. I want to get some darker, more consistent colors. Or, at least, something non-neon to go with the alpaca I spun earlier. My local art store* has a couple of different types of fabric dyes, one of which might work for wool- Procion MX. Only, I think it calls for alum or somethingorother for what it's meant for (fabric?/silk?), but vinegar/acid for protein fibers (like wool). I read something about it online, but it was pretty vague. For now I'm holding out for getting dye from a proper fiber shop that is meant for wool. Anyhow, I'm still a bit hesitant at this whole thing, as it will involve me obtaining more stuff- can't use the same containers to dye in as food containers. But I totally don't want to have to store more pots or pans! I wonder if I can get away with having just a single dedicated tupperware? Hmmmm.
Anyhow, this page has a lot of info on different methods of dyeing wool. And yeah, there is the whole other world of natural dyeing, but that sounds like way too big an investment for a girl living in an apartment in the city. maybe someday...
* the local art shop is typical in *most* ways... it's not too big, but they have lots of random things for me to buy- pretty paper, fancy pens, dye... It also has two resident orange kitties who continuously lay in their front window. Cute. But... as a result, the entire shop smells like cat piss.
I've been trying to figure out the world of "real" dyeing lately.. I want to get some darker, more consistent colors. Or, at least, something non-neon to go with the alpaca I spun earlier. My local art store* has a couple of different types of fabric dyes, one of which might work for wool- Procion MX. Only, I think it calls for alum or somethingorother for what it's meant for (fabric?/silk?), but vinegar/acid for protein fibers (like wool). I read something about it online, but it was pretty vague. For now I'm holding out for getting dye from a proper fiber shop that is meant for wool. Anyhow, I'm still a bit hesitant at this whole thing, as it will involve me obtaining more stuff- can't use the same containers to dye in as food containers. But I totally don't want to have to store more pots or pans! I wonder if I can get away with having just a single dedicated tupperware? Hmmmm.
Anyhow, this page has a lot of info on different methods of dyeing wool. And yeah, there is the whole other world of natural dyeing, but that sounds like way too big an investment for a girl living in an apartment in the city. maybe someday...
* the local art shop is typical in *most* ways... it's not too big, but they have lots of random things for me to buy- pretty paper, fancy pens, dye... It also has two resident orange kitties who continuously lay in their front window. Cute. But... as a result, the entire shop smells like cat piss.
Wednesday, July 07, 2004
they say it's your birthday.
it's my birthday too. Happy.. 7th?
This year was quite nice, as my birthday (um- not the 7th.. the 5th!) was a federal holiday, *and* there were fireworks in my neighborhood! Woo-hoo! Plus, I got a whole bunch of spinny things, and actually some incredibly awesome buttony goodness which I'll save for later. Here they are: 8 oz. of superwash merino, a pound of wool, and a turkish spindle. Oh, and some more Kool-Aid.
I've been playing around with the turkish spindle and some BFL, and it went horrible.. I think the spindle is meant more for spinning heavier singles, and I find it hard to make anything thick. After the wool coming apart a million times (and not joining back together happily like the merino or alpaca) I gave up, and plied the above. (It was great for the plying, at least.)
Other than that, not so much accomplished this past weekend! I need to finish Anouk by next week, as well as a felted wine bag. Ugh. Knitting! :) But before that- some experimentation with food coloring. I like that I can get darker colors here!
This year was quite nice, as my birthday (um- not the 7th.. the 5th!) was a federal holiday, *and* there were fireworks in my neighborhood! Woo-hoo! Plus, I got a whole bunch of spinny things, and actually some incredibly awesome buttony goodness which I'll save for later. Here they are: 8 oz. of superwash merino, a pound of wool, and a turkish spindle. Oh, and some more Kool-Aid.
I've been playing around with the turkish spindle and some BFL, and it went horrible.. I think the spindle is meant more for spinning heavier singles, and I find it hard to make anything thick. After the wool coming apart a million times (and not joining back together happily like the merino or alpaca) I gave up, and plied the above. (It was great for the plying, at least.)
Other than that, not so much accomplished this past weekend! I need to finish Anouk by next week, as well as a felted wine bag. Ugh. Knitting! :) But before that- some experimentation with food coloring. I like that I can get darker colors here!
