hand dyeing

This Week’s Spinning

mulchandmorecrafts 8 Comments

This week on Monday at spinning guild I started working on 8oz of fiber that I had dyed last month. I spun more that night and Tuesday, by Wednesday I had two spools of 4oz each and plied them together. (Took me longer to get the pictures on my computer and edited 🙂

Woodland colors, hand dyed top

Dyed merino top

closer view of dyed wool top

dyed top, spread cross-wise and on bottom as dyed.

 

 

For the top I had chosen colors that reminded me of an early fall forest, the blue-green of spruce trees, a touch of orange for early turning leaves, and of course the brown of twigs and trunks.

top spinning into single yarn

see the color rearrange as spun

When I started spinning it, the wool transformed into more subtle, softer shades of these colors, transforming my mid-day forest into one viewed in early morning or late dusk.

single yarn and top

single on spool compared to un-spun top

 

At this point I could have chosen to ply it with a dark single to make the colors pop a little again, but the softness of the shading was asking to be kept together. I now have two skeins, one of 200yds and one of 84yds. Time to set the twist, label them and add them to my craft show inventory.

finished pliedwool yarn

finished skeins of yarn

And of course, I must decide what will be next on my wheel. Have a happy fiber-filled week.

And please leave a comment to let me know what your favorite colors of yarn are?

Spinning a Sample of Golden Wool

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A few posts back, a fiber day, I pictured my experiments of dyeing merino wool a golden shade. My last spinning project was to take 2 ounces of each of those shades to spin separately and then ply together. I ended with one 100yd skein that really shows the differences in shading and a second 60yd skein that combines the lighter parts of the darker top with the more yellowish gold.

Spinning gold on my louet wheel.

Merino top being spun with a slight over-twist to ply.

shades of gold on my wheel

Spinning the first top on my louet wheel

singles on the lazy kate

Two singles ready to ply

Plying yarn.

Turning singles into a two-ply

Two ply golden yarn

Plied yarn winding on spool

yarn measured into skeins

Yarn, 60yds on nitty-noddy and 100yds in skein.

 

 

And a different spinner might end with completely different results. That is part of the fun of spinning dyed roving or top.

A Fiber Day!

mulchandmorecrafts 8 Comments

Yesterday I felt like playing with color!  I started with my big bump of soft white merino top for the kettle dying.

wool fiber

white Merino top

Actually it’s about half a bump, as you can see from the missing center.

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center view of bump of merino top

 

one pound of merino top
the top placed in a mesh laundry bag
Another batch in the dye kettle

(click these pictures for captions)

 

I decided to experiment, to see if I could capture a golden tone. The first pound looks more like a tiger, yellow,orange and brown tones.

merino -gold? experiment #1
gold experiment #1 plus first rainbow dyed

The second is shaded, using the same combination of dyes, but I think it came closer to what I’d envisioned. After seeing them dried, I think I will spin a sample (ounce or two) of each and ply them together. (I’ll try to remember to post a follow-up picture)

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experiment #2 gold?

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some of my dyes

Since I had my dyes out was playing mad chemist, I also rainbow dyed four batches. Two of them utilized the same colors (I’d actually written them down!) that I’d used on some that sold at the fall fiber festival. (I had hoped that it would be left for me to spin this winter.)  These came out a little busier than I remember and then my husband commented that it looked pretty, like a tropical snake—eek!

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rainbow dyed and experiment # 2 gold

For the second two batches, I chose to over-dye  a soft drab olive wool with autumn shades. (I know it’s the wrong season, but I don’t enjoy spinning snow!) And yes I was a little heavy handed with the color application, so even this came out brighter than expected.  This is the last of this fiber, which I’ve been hoarding for a while. (Did I mention it’s a very soft wool, but of an unknown sheep breed, so hard to find more of it) I may decide to spin it for my own use.

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drab olive top before dyeing

two batches of rainbow dyed drab olive
rainbow dyed drab olive

 

In conclusion, four pounds of fiber gave me some to spin, some to sell, and dyes left for another day. This equals work accomplished toward one of my sub-goals and more future fun.