Mar 30, 2008

Oven-dyeing experiments

So the Evil Corriedale of Eternal Stickiness got re-washed last week, and this week I decided I should comb or card it so it's more easily spinnable ... but while I was playing with the combs and hand cards, I decided that dangit, this stuff should just be spun up so I don't have to worry about it any more. But if I tried to spin it undyed, well, a wool with a history of being a pain already would drive me up the wall. So I looked up some oven-dyeing instructions and had at it in an extremely haphazard way. As long as this stuff got some color into it and was spinnable afterward, I wasn't going to complain. Here's what came out:

First oven-dyed wool


Which should make a pretty cute yarn, self-plied. ;) It was almost dry this morning, and if only I'd put down the big drying screen it would have been even closer. Oh, well. That's what I get for being lazy.

But the oven-dyeing thing was so easy and fun that I decided to do another batch today, since I have some white rovings that are just sitting around taking up space, but that are part of the personal stash and need to be spun to practice on. I'm also trying to use up some of the random food dyes I have sitting around, so I did this tiny batch of roving solely with Easter egg dye (one orange tablet, one "red" tablet that turned out pink, and one "green" tablet that turned out yellow, which at least I managed to expect ;)). Voila:

<Wool + Easter egg dyes


And this is what it looked like fresh out of the oven:

Fresh out of the oven


Yay. :D Irritatingly bright, isn't it? But although I'm not a huge neon person and none of the colors are among my favorites, I still really like it. I'm making an attempt to branch out in my spinning fiber color enjoyment so I can broaden my horizons (and maybe spin yarn I can sell rather than getting attached to *snort*). See? I'm doing pretty well so far ... right? ;)

Mar 22, 2008

Dehairing llama, as written by Amelia

Amelia of The Bellwether made a blog post last year that I've just noticed, on dehairing llama and cashmere fiber by hand. That'll be useful when I finally get around to playing with that llama fiber I bought a while ago. The entire reason I haven't spun it yet is that it has guard hairs in it ... but as Amelia recommends that fiber for dehairing be washed first, I guess I have some more washing to do this weekend. Too bad it's not sunny today. Oh, well...

Mar 21, 2008

More stash enhancement: Homestead Wool

Mmmm. Lavender. That's what I smelled when I opened the box, because the Ryans are awesome people and included a little fresh lavender sachet with my animal-friendly fluffies. This is "rescue roving," from Homestead Wool and Gift Farm -- and look! They included a little green fluffy from one of their Romneys. :D

Rescue roving from Homestead Wool


Here's the description from their site:

We purchased our little Theo when he was a lamb, and he is no longer so little! He is a Corriedale sheep with soft soft wool. His best buddy is our Marshall, another sheep from the same flock...

Shari did a wonderful job blending Theo's wool with gray Alpaca fleece from our friend Jenny's flock of rescued Llamas and Alpacas. She also pindrafted the fiber, so so easy to spin, could be dyed, felted and take you wherever your imagination takes you! Definitely next to the skin soft and a unique blend.


As of right now, there are six ounces left of the Theo/Suri roving ... in case anyone is hankering. ;)

Mar 15, 2008

Fiber acquirement: Lapoli hand-dyed roving

Ordered this last week, I think, and it got here today ... Oooh, what's inside?

What's inside?


Looks like ... Pretty fibers! ;D (Ignore the slight blurriness. I've been taking pictures all morning, and of course, this is one of the two that came out blurry. ::rolls eyes:: And I'm a slacker who's too lazy to stage an equally-prettily-arranged new photo. Oh, well.)

Lapoli fibers, March 2008


Cheryl of Lapoli is new to Etsy, and is apparently not just a nice person who gives great customer service, but she cares about recycling and likes trades. Mmm ... trading. Maybe next time...

Mar 5, 2008

I'm taking up the hook again

For National Crochet Month (thanks to Lime and Violet's Daily Chum for the heads up). As -alongs are nigh on irresistible in the Quicksilver Crafter world, I'm participating in the NatCroMo Freeform Crochet-Along. It'll get me back in the crochet mood and stashbust at the same time -- double points! (Maybe literally, given Knit Wars...) I'm using this random number generator.

Playing catch-up, I did...

March 1

Random number: 2
Yarn: pink and metallic stash yarn
Hook: purple size L

March 2

Random number: 3
Yarn: pink and metallic stash yarn
Hook: size J

March 3

Random number: 8 (from candles we attempted to light in candleabra at FlaRF)
Yarn: darker pink and metallic stash yarn
Hook: size J

March 4

Random number: 14 (from page of A Dyer's Garden I'm on)
Yarn: darker pink and metallic stash yarn
Hook: size J
I'm stopped right before doing March 4, for now, because I don't know how to do filet crochet yet, and it's 11 p.m., and I need to sleep. ;)
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