Self Striping Dyeing

Ok I finally got a nice morning and enough time to try the self striping dyeing. I took pics along the way, so I will post them here. I tied the yarn up into small, approximately 13-15 yd. bundles with about 10 to 12 inches of yarn between the bundles. I ended up with 13 bundles which I soaked in the sink.


Then I mixed the dyes and distributed the bundles into the bottles in the pot going around and around til all the bundles were distributed. I used Cushings dyes; navy in jar #1, cherry with a few grains of blue in jar #2, canary with a few grains of reseda green in jar #3, and peacock in jar #4. I simmered the jars for about an hour, and added a dollop of vinegar to each jar for the last 10 minutes.


I took each bundle out of the jars individually and wound it onto my niddy noddy. I wanted to avoid a tangled mess and this worked quite well. It took longer than I thought but that was ok.


Here's the yarn tied into a skein and hung on the line to dry.
I don't think I would want to try this with any longer length of yarn than the 150 yds without a different way to do it. Maybe a roasting pan in the oven would work, and since it's bigger I could maybe go with 6 colors instead. I'd like to try this with a warping board too, and then paint the yarn before it would go onto the stove or into the oven. Anyway, I am pleased with my first attempt.

Newfoundland Heritage Wool

I started combing and spinning the Newfoundland Heritage wool I got a couple of months ago. There is so much lanolin in it, it really makes my hands feel soft. However, it makes the wool slightly sticky. I bought the wool washed, and it looks pretty clean, there really isn't any vm in it. Anyway, I like the wool a lot. The locks are pretty long, and it is more wiry than the Corriedale is. It's at least as soft as the Corriedale is, too and I like the way it spins up. I am going to spin about 150 yards of a 3 ply and then dye it and knit a hat. I have visions of Noro colorways in my head, but I'm not sure how to accomplish the longer lengths of dyed yarn. What I might do is use 5 different colors and then stuff 15 yard lengths in the different jars on top of the stove. If I tie each 15 yard length up individually it should keep the tangles down to a minimum. I would have 2 repeats of the 5 color sequence. It would be much easier to do with a warping board, although even that might not give me long enough lengths.
I started a button cowl with the corriedale yarn I spun and dyed last week. It knits up nice and I think it will look good when I finish it. I am going to try and spin with projects in mind and hats are easy and fun. Plus I can get used to spinning different weights of yarn. I like plied yarns the best, and I like worsted but I should be able to spin a nice single ply in any weight, as well as thin yarn to ply.
On another subject, the youngest of our 3 guinea pigs died today. Her name was Pumpkin, but we always called her Tiny Pig, or Teeny Tiny Pig. She was a sweet little girl but very shy, she would spend a lot of time hiding in her hutch. We had her 5 years, and she came to us when she was just a baby. We really will miss her. She is the middle piggy in the picture, with her 2 sisters.

Latest Spinning Project

1st picture is 300 yards of fibery goodness

2nd pic Close up of skein

3rd pic Single plies waiting to be plied together on my antique lazy kate

last picture Single plies waiting to be wound onto bobbins

Ok, so I haven't been posting much lately, but that doesn't mean I haven't been busy. My Etsy store has been doing much better lately and I've been trying to keep adding new things almost every day if I can. I've taken a different direction with it; in addition to the handmade items I am know listing recycled/reclaimed fabric and a few vintage things when I can pick them up for cheap. It does mean that I have to do a lot more thrifting and going to garage sales then I have in the past. What I haven't been doing as much as I'd like to is spinning. I've been working on a 3 ply worsted weight for a couple of weeks now, and I finally finished it today. I spun it from Corriedale wool that I bought and then washed and combed a couple of weeks ago.Then I spun a little here and there when I had time, and yesterday I got the different single strands dyed. I steamed the yarn in the over rolled up in plastic and covered for an hour and then hung it to dry, and then today plied it. I REALLY REALLY like this yarn. I have just over 300 yds of it and I'm not sure what I'm going to make with it. I'm going to look at patterns tomorrow.