MORE TDF DYEING

Another crockpot of dyed wool;  I'm still not thrilled with the color but it did improve some.

I squeeze out the water and hang them to dry overnight.

The first skein of the orangey-brown yarn;  it is soft and squishy!

The next skein is still an orangey-brown but lighter in color.

And the last hank of wool turned out the best in the lightest color.

I will look forward to a lot of spinning today!

MONDAY GOALS

I am heading out to lunch with several quilting friends--an old group that no longer meets but these friends still do!  Afterwards, I have a table runner to complete on the frame!

And some roving to dye so I can continue with the Tour de Fleece!
 

SPINNING WHEEL SPINS

First I dyed some roving.

Then it dried overnight.

In the morning, I had two 3.5 oz of roving ready for me to spin!

And spin we did!  Lena slept for hours like this while I made singles and today is plying day!

 

A GOOD START

I had a pretty slow day; a new p-b-n was started which was beach in stark contrast to the weather here right now!  The new year greeted us with 29*F!

Bill has picked the Glorybower berries (cleredendrum) for me before the frost got them!  I am picking each of those berries from the stalk so that I can make a dye bath.

It is slow going, I might add!

I finished piecing the four-patches and gave up on the diagonal layout because there were too many directional fabrics that looked silly sitting sideways!  I arranged them so that the  diagonal lines show up in the fabrics and not the blocks.  Much better.  I have two borders to apply after I piece the blocks to each other.

 

INSIDE AND OUTSIDE WORK

Isn't the portulaca pretty?!  It is hanging by the birdfeeders out front-a nice perk of color to start the day!

After watering all the flowers out front and out back, I cooled off with some inside work-piecing the rest of the churn dashes and sashings!  Nice to have it completed as a top.

I made a hat from the sweater I made in the winter-it is Premier Basix Mosaic which is a much heavierr worsted weight than usual.  The Sentro Machine like it very well!

And since I am  out of sock yarn, I decided I needed to dye some of the Bare Hawthorne I had on hand.  I wanted some 'blue skies and clouds' yarn and I think I achieved it--

now to see how it knits up!

I also assembled one side to the tote of cotton yarn.  It is not the most fun to crochet but I want to use it so I need to keep at it!  I have the first one of the next 24 I need for the other side!

A whole bunch of the African Irises in bloom--these are in the pool area-nice to see the flowers blooming all around me

 while I enjoy a good float!

 

Feelin' Blue-In a Good Way!

One of the elderly ladies at church thought she would like some small mitts, \if I would be willing to make her blue ones!

  I dyed the sock blank I had knit in double strand 

to have a pair of matching socks.  

I will make a mitt with one strand

 and then use the other strand to knit the other; 

 this way I will be able to have the remaining blank for socks still!  

The colors are tie-dye pretty 

and it will be interesting to see how it knits up!

Can you guess who came to visit yesterday? 

 How wonderful to see these guys!

Birthday yarn is becoming a hat!  

It's good to have several knitting projects on the needles. 

 I made the boys a snow man and they painted them all by themselves

--pics after the snowmen get noses! lol

 

Sock Off and Sock On!

These are a pair now!

I used Hawthorne Bare yarn from KnitPicks

and dyed from a sock blank I knit on the knitting machine double stranded.

The socks match perfectly this way.

And I have immediately cast on the tangled skein yarn

which I had hoped would be traditional Christmas

colored but this faded Victorian version has its own charm!

Accomplished

 I've worked on this little 5 x 7" line and wash of the kids' home while they were here;

they liked seeing their house come to life! 

 I was relieved that they recognized it right away!

This is a gift for their Mom.

 This is how that skein has looked since last Thursday.

When the kids went home with Dad last night, I sat the winder in front of my recliner 

and began some serious unwinding!  

And it worked!

I rewound the ball into a cake-a lovely cake just the way I expected to happen! lol

(The only odd part of the whole experiment--I had dyed this dark red and green but it is now

rust and teal! 

 Not a bad thing but different than the Christmas skein I had planned for a pair of socks!)

Try , try, again!

A Win, a Win, a Lose!

 The Charm Stars quilt is completed-bound, washed , dried and in the donation pile!

40 x 52"

 I died a sock blank that I have had for a long time-I knit this on the knitting machine (LK150)

double strand so that the two socks could match. 

 I unraveled it and have two cakes ready for me to cast on!

And then there is this.

Completely my fault-I put it in the washer to spin out-a ph call came 

and I wandered away which meant that the nice skein (even with ties) 

went through the rinse and another spin and it is a MESS!

Bill said throw it away....I might 

but first I will try to untangle it

-there has to be some way to get some order since it is still tied in two places.  

I should know better.  

I might just hang it for wall art!

A Fail...

 This is known as a break--it is when you carefully dye your wool with colors in this case, 

blue, a primary color and then a secondary color-orange made of yellow and red;  

these are the colors you blend to get a sage green. 

 The pot of wool was a beautiful sage green, so I turned off the heat 

and let the pan of wool and water cool. 

 When I took the lid off several hours later-I had a shock!  

The colors had some greens but the orange had separated into red and orange--

not what I wanted at all!!!!!

I have hand carded a few handfuls and you can clearly see a gold, dark green and a red.

Now if I were to card these on the drum carder to make a batt, 

I will have a batt of mud colored wool.

I can only try to keep the areas of wool separate 

and then hope to over-dye after I have spun it into yarn.

Sometimes you get what you want and sometimes you don't!

I will be carding and seeing what I can spin later today!

Just Today

 ...I'm working on the 12 Days of Christmas -a quilt along in July.

 ....I will be making some sweater pieces on the knitting machine.

...I will be drying this newly dyed wool so I can card it this afternoon.

Bill is feeling better and was finally able to sleep

without the pain waking him up.

I am rested again as well;

what a difference a good night's sleep makes for your whole being!

What's New?!

 I tried The Incredible Sweater Machine 30 years ago but had the itch to try it again.

I watched a bunch of videos by Cheryl Brunette

 and I was ready to put it together

 and

KNIT!

I did it!  I have high hopes to both knit sweaters with this and for making sock blanks for dyeing.

It was nice to conquer and to play! 

 I also bought some cotton and linen bare yarns so I can try Procion dyes for plant fabrics.

I have tons of cotton for spinning that will now have color so it won't be so boring!

And I couldn't resist this quilt kit because it is in oranges and blues;   I don't love and adore sports at all but these are the colors of both Syracuse and now Gainesville--and it is a great color combo!

Now to find the time to actually use these crafts!

Making Colors

 I experimented with corals and browns

as I wielded the Jacquard dye bottles .

I do love the way the yarn grabs the dyes!

 I dyed some roving, too.

I am hoping to line up some colored wool since I have spun white for too long!

It is so warm in the sunshine, it took no time at all to dry the fiber.

 This is some BFL (blue-faced Leicester wool) and Tussah silk blend.

I can't wait to spin this!

This four ounce roving is Hampshire wool, a downy breed,

 and took the dye so differently from the the long, silky wool of the BFL!

It will spin long draw and yield a bouncy wool, 

I'm pretty sure!

Will took this picture of his cat,  Nemo.

He is guarding another roving I dyed, it is a superwash Merino/nylon. 

This was an amazing view of our sky last night-

There is also a flock of egrets flying to roost.

Releasing the Color!

 It's that time of year when the new fruit are starting on the prickly pear cactus

 so I harvest last year's fruit!

 I give them a good drive through the food processor-not too fine

but enough to release all the soft insides from the heavy skin!

 I put the slurry into the big pickling jar and add a bit of water.

I give it a good stir and then take it outside....

...so it can ferment for a week!

(I am making a prickly pear cactus dye pot

so next week I will be dyeing some yarn or roving for spinning!)