Something Completely Different

When it comes to dyeing wool I am usually quite content to  work with natural dyes.  There are enough plants and colour variations to keep a person entertained for a lifetime.  However, every once in a while it’s a good idea to shake things up a bit so I gathered together some roving, beads and a package a raspberry  Kool-Aid:

I used the microwave and the spinning wheel and made this:

Certainly a deviation from my normal spinning and dyeing techniques.  I don’t know when blue became the official colour for raspberry flavour but it does make a nice dye.  I mixed the Kool-Aid with water and put it and the wet wool in a microwave safe dish.  I cooked it for two minutes on high, waited two minutes then cooked it for another two minutes, rinsed the wool and let it dry.  I then spun two singles.  I threaded the beads, about three hundred of them, on some sewing thread and  spun the thread with one of the singles spacing the beads randomly along the length of wool.  Finally I plied the single with the beads with the single without the beads and declared the project complete.  Approximately 100 meters of worsted weight wool with beads spun into it.  I don’t know what I will make with this.   Maybe a hat?

 

Spinning

I have been trying to get in touch with my inner-Rumpelstiltskin. I was very fortunate to come into possession of this fleece:

I have no idea what kind of sheep it came from but the fleece is a very nice chocolate brown colour. I have washed it and was thinking it would be nice to sit by the fire and spin just like they do in old stories. This is the problem:

Hand carders. Beside the fact that hand carders have got to be the longest and most tedious way of preparing fiber for spinning, they also aggravate an old wood stacking injury I have. I won’t go into the details but suffice it to say that after I use hand carders for half an hour my right arm is very sore and I am very cranky. However, since I don’t see a drum carder in my future they’ll have to do. I’ve made some progress:

I’ll be making a two ply out of this since my spinning tends to be uneven and tight. I’m hoping to have the whole fleece spun by the end of March which, I’m also hoping, will coincide with the end of winter. I’m thinking I will get about 1500 metres of two ply from the fleece. That’s just a guess, I really have no idea.