A Couple of Fun Days Spent Dyeing Wool

The past couple of weeks I've been thinking about weaving, about how I haven't felt like weaving in a long time, and how I could change that. I realized that I hadn't bought any weaving yarn in the longest time and I haven't dyed any of my rug wool either. I started dreaming/thinking about weaving projects to fire my inspiration, and I decided to set up my Glimakra Standard countermarch loom to weave a rug for my studio. This past weekend I pulled out some of my rug wool, chose bright colors from my dye solution stash and I hooked up my old camp stove on my back patio. It was a bit nippy out, around 35 (1.7 C) in the shade on my patio, so I piled on some old clothes to stay warm. Halfway through the dye day, my great hubbie Marshall, made me a quad shot cappuccino, which fired me up in order to keep going. Thanks, Marshall!

After soaking the wool, I used a royal blue acid dye solution to dye two skeins of rug wool, placing the second skein (the one on the right) in the canning pot about five minutes after the first.

I had some emerald green acid dye solution that I used to dye two skeins a light green:

 



I had some skeins of medium brown rug wool that I wanted to overdye so I added a teal acid dye solution to the pot, creating a blueish gray yarn:

 

 

I also put my crock pot to use in order to dye one skein a soft chartreuse:

 

 

I've wanted to start spinning again, so I pulled a box of clean wool out that has a 4-5 inch long (11 cm) staple length and a medium crimp:

 

 

I ran it through my drum carder several times, adding some adult mohair to it along the way and then started dyeing it using a russet acid dye solution. This time dyeing the batt using a small microwave on my patio that I use only for dyeing. Then I repeated the process using a silver gray dye solution to even out the color, a spruce green and then a crimson dye solution. I want to spin this wool to knit up some socks to go with my favorite burgundy sweater :-) I plan on blending the wool as I spin so that I can achieve some soft colors and I'm using the book, The Twisted Sisters Sock Book, by Lynne Vogel for inspiration.

 

 

While I was digging around looking for my wool, I discovered a bag of Cormo top that I had combed months ago using the combs that my husband made me. I decided that this would make a fine wool hat to go with a hard shell jacket that I sometimes wear while skiing, so I dripped some bright blue dye solution over the top, varying the strength of the solution, sprayed it with vinegar and then wrapped the whole thing in plastic wrap. I microwaved it to set the dye and this is the end result-a bowl full of light fluffy blue goodness.

 

 

Yesterday it snowed up in the mountains, so this morning after doing a few chores around the house, I plan on heading up to do some skiing. Ah, fresh snow :-) Yeah, I'm grinning.

 

Here's hoping that you make time to play with fiber/fabric today,

Judy