Denise and Lisa joined me in a little dye workshop. I hope they had as much fun as I did! DH swathed the entire kitchen in plastic sheeting (reusable) for the event, and did most of the setup. He’s such a sweetie.
My colors are Lanaset/Sabraset in 4% stock solution, ready to mix and dilute for handpainting.
I love the results!
I really wish I had written down Lisa’s formula, because in the middle there, she’s come up with the perfect breast cancer awareness pink, and I’d like to duplicate it.
Denise aimed for, and got, denim blue, just right.
I did a few more skeins later that night.
In the middle there are 2 skeins I decided to call “flame”. I was shooting for medium rose and gold. I guess I missed a little. Practice, practice, practice.
I need to be a little more careful with my ergonomics in future. I spent all day Sunday recovering. Someday I’ll learn.
took place last Saturday in Big Island, Virginia, at the Sedalia Center, which used to be an elementary school, was bought by the county, and now hosts various events. Not a large festival, very cozy and friendly. Look at this setting! at the foot of a few gorgeous peaks in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
My friend Denise and I drove up on a last minute whim, and had a wonderful fibery day. I’m still upset that I didn’t win the drawing for the Kromski 16″ Harp loom, but look at this loot!
Furthest left there is honest to goodness combed Cormo top from Overlook Manor Farm, so wonderfully soft, most likely spins like butter, though that sounds very messy, doesn’t it? Spins like a dream? Better. Then a pattern for a swirly shawl, and jojoland melody yarn to knit it in. Then the Holiday 2007 issue of IK, which is sold out everywhere, what a find! A beautiful skein of potential socks in colorway “cherry blossom” from rock creek yarns. A tool for making braid, and a book to learn how, from Lacis, by way of I See Spots Farm. Last, no photograph could do it justice, because you really have to stroke your face with it to appreciate it fully, and the colors are complex and beautifully blended, but that roving is 50% Polwarth, 50% angora from Woolybuns by way of Greenberry House, in Meadows of Dan, Virginia. What a glorious Stash Enhancement eXpedition (that’s yarn SEX to you). I’m so proud of my self-restraint in coming home without a new spinning wheel or drum carder. When I go to SAFF in the fall, an intervention may be in order.
Today’s flowers for you include:
The first hydrangea mopheads of the year. This is an endless summer original, which bloomed pink it’s first year, and a beautiful light red-violet since, and:
white clematis henryi with flowers the size of dinner plates, and:
this lovely blue clematis on my front lamp post which might be variety rhapsody, but I never can remember. It has a profuse habit, and a long blooming season too.
I think I may have just topped my personal record for most links per post.
I’m so excited that I figured out how to embed a video! DH designed a skeiner for me, and wrote up instructions in case you like it enough to make one too. It works very well. The loop shown is just the right length to stretch out a skein on my dyeing table, which is a six foot folding plastic banquet table. I’m going to make a loop of waste yarn just that length, and tie my current project yarn onto it, so each skein is the same length.
Using the Hose Reel Skein Winder
Our purpose in designing the Hose Reel Skein Winder was to have a device that would allow us to wind skeins of any length, including very long ones, to facilitate special hand-dyeing projects.We also became frustrated using two wooden posts, because passing a ball of yarn around was unwieldy.This design allows us to have one person stand next to one unit and turn a wheel that winds the skein relatively quickly and easily.
The length of the skein is not limited and infinitely variable, because it is established by the yarn itself and not by any fixed setting on the winder.The first step is to measure the desired circumference of the skein from the end of the yarn, hold the point measured to, then tie the end of the yarn to that point.It is best to add a little to the measurement to allow enough yarn to make the knot.One technique is to measure exactly one inch more than the desired circumference, then tie the knot so that the measured point connects with the other end of the yarn exactly one inch from the end.
An alternative to forming the loop out of the yarn being skeined is to make a loop out of another non-slippery yarn, with a small loop to which the yarn can be tied.This would be particularly useful if the user often makes skeins of the exact same size, as measuring for successive skeins could be eliminated.
The resulting loop of yarn is placed over the hose reels on the 2 units of the winder, which are then moved apart until an appropriate amount of tension is placed on the loop.While we do not wish to stretch the yarn too much, we need enough tension that the loop will not droop too much between the units (not a problem) and there will be enough friction on the yarn at the driving reel that turning the reel will cause the loop to turn like a fan belt.The non-driving reel can be held by a helper or held still by tying to something, sticking the base under a chair or plopping something heavy on it.Movement, while it might interrupt the process, does not cause any serious problem, because the length of the skein is determined by the length of the loop tied in the yarn, not by the distance between the units.Similarly, adjustments to tension can be made by moving the driving reel around, without causing any problems with the length of the skein.
After the loop is mounted on the units and appropriate tension is obtained, the driving reel is turned so that the yarn from the ball or cone is pulled over the top of the driving reel.Left-handed users will probably want to put the driving reel on the opposite end of the loop from right-handers, and turn counter-clockwise, while right-handers turn clockwise.The other hand can be used to steady the unit and guide the yarn onto the reel to get a smooth, even skein.We have found it easy just to let the source ball or cone sit in a box at the feet of the operator, where it can bounce around happily while yarn is drawn from it.The entire skein is driven around the two units and becomes larger and larger as more yarn is taken from the source.
edit added 6/15/2008: DH bought another hose reel, so that I will have 2 with slippery surface. This is useful when using the device as a swift, to make a ball, or different length skein. Because they detach easily from the framework, this presents no difficulty, but does add $10 or so to the material cost.
If you want one of your own, copy and paste the instruction pages below to your own file.
I hope this will have all of us dyeing with greater ease.
with Mama E, and so were Keri, Carl, Niki and Kim.
I handpainted 2 pretty skeins of sock yarn
this one is my favorite
and one roving
if you think it looks kind of like entrails now, you should have seen it when it was still rolled up in plastic wrap and oozing dye. Have you ever seen a human placenta?
I think it will look fine spun up.
It was sunny, windy, shirtsleeve weather when I left Greensboro around 1:30pm, and raining when I arrived in W-S. Knit Picky is an adorable yarn shop located in a former residence, and still feels like a home. I knew I would like the people there, when I went to wash my hands and found a budgie in the bathroom! Cute little guy. We pretty much filled up the kitchen, and had great fun getting creative and messy. We took the group pics at the end, and it was COLD outside by then. It was Niki, I think, who put it so well, “a good day to dye”.
What goes up must come down
spinning wheel got to go round
Talking about your troubles it’s a crying sin
Ride a painted pony
Let the spinning wheel spin
You got no money, and you, you got no home
Spinning wheel all alone
Talking about your troubles and you, you never learn
Ride a painted pony
let the spinning wheel turn
Did you find a directing sign
on the straight and narrow highway?
Would you mind a reflecting sign
Just let it shine within your mind
And show you the colours that are real
Someone is waiting just for you
spinning wheel is spinning true
Drop all your troubles, by the river side
Catch a painted pony
On the spinning wheel ride
I know it’s a cliche but I just had to put the lyrics here. Look what I did today!
My first effort is on the left, my second on the right (on the bobbin). I’ve put a significant dent in my bag of corriedale roving, and I’m flirting with the idea of handpainting after I make another bobbinfull and ply. I think I’ll get fiber-reactive colors; Hands on Dyeing is making me feel brave. I’m hoping to get “colours that are real”. Someday.
carpool knitter 
