The wool from Sunday

Here is the merino top I dyed on Sunday - it's very dark and not pretty. The burgundy came out brown and the dark green looks muddy.

I will probably spin it up eventually, but it's not going to be one I pick up anytime soon.

I need to get a better camera, I can't seem to take a picture that gets the colors right.

Hand painted silk

Here is the 4 ounces of silk I painted yesterday.

The cushings dyes I have are very old and I wonder if they are not performing correctly. I may have mixed the violet weaker than the other colors. I did use all three of these in the last dyeing day and made the mistake of not mixing the whole packet at once.

Next time I will mix up the whole packet of dye with water and just dilute enough for the weight I am dyeing that day.

Anyway, the burgundy did come out very brown and the violet is pinker than I think it should be, the color did not penetrate all the way to the center of the roving in some places. I am not sure if it will be what I want to use to ply with the charcoal polworth, I was looking for saturated color for that, but I like it and will spin it up. Perhaps I can ply it with the light grey polworth. I wonder which one the colors will pop better with?

Sunday craze

For some reason my brain was racing with projects this morning.

I decided to wash up the rest of the superfine merino that Alicia gave me for the longest thread competition. I am going to comb the rest of it and practice again to see if I can get my yardage up. I have missed the deadline for this year, but the practice couldn't hurt.

While that was sitting in the wash water, I got out 4 ounces of tussah silk to dye. I hand painted it in dark green, burgundy and violet. I laid it out on a black plastic trash bag, then folded it up when I was done. I am going to spin this very fine to ply with that charcoal polworth that I have been spinning.

Then, since I already had the dyes out, I put about 4 ounces of superwash merino in a dye bath and just poured those same three colors in blotches into the wool. I made sure that it penetrated all the way thru and then covered it with another trash bag. I set those on top of a dog crate in the back yard in the full sun.


Then, while those were cooking, I carded up about 6-7 ounces of the light grey polworth. I thought I might do another 3 ply with the charcoal polworth and the silk. I started spinning the light grey and when I put it with the charcoal - I didn't like the tweediness. Oh well, I will finish spinning it - got to be something I can do with 6 ounces of grey polworth spun very fine.

I had to put the wool back in the sun for another day - the dye bath did not exhaust and some of the wool was still white in spots. I poured some more violet into it and set it back in the sun.

I need to buy some more vinegar - I used the last of it today.

The silk also has some undyed places in the center of the roving - I am not sure if I will try to re-dye it to hit those spots or just spin it the way it is.

Pictures to come.....