Busy Girl

I got tired of the pile of boxes full of undyed wool in my dining room. They've been sitting there for a few weeks, since Sonya sent them to me to dye for a venture we're considering.

So this morning, after coffee and breakfast, I got to it. I would the long rovings into skeins and tied them off. I made piles of smaller pieces that didn't skein well. Separated the pin rovings from the full top. I made it through about half of what she sent to me, which is only part of the 65# of wool we bought together. The postage doesn't tell me how much each box weighed, and I can't weigh it until later, because it looks like this now:
I completely filled the available drying space in my basement with dyed wool. And I spent most of the day, well, about 8 hours of it, creating this mass of color. I was experimenting with a different dye than I'm accustomed to, since it's winter and I don't have a well-ventilated dye studio out of the house, and I prefer not to poison myself, my son, or my cats.

So, for a guided tour of the product of my day!

The greens! Kettle-dyed random small lengths of roving, some wool, some with mohair, all pretty.
The Cracked Pot. I managed to completely crock the dyes on this batch of kettle-dyeing, and I actually like the result.

I sampled some of this as soon as it was dry enough to handle.


This stuff is the full top, kettle-dyed again, some with mohair, mostly just wool. All soft and lovely to touch.And then there are the skeins of roving... Some are completely one piece, others are made up of multiple strands to make a bigger skein. Since I tend not to believe in doing things small, there are three dye lots here - three skeins of one colorway, three of another, and four of the third. I get so irritated when I want to make something large and there's not enough fiber! So I aim for sweater-quantities when I spin, and when I dye.

And when I was done? The sun came out after a long day of snowstorm.

Roses compliments of Cousin Kathy, who makes bouquets for nursing homes out of unsold flowers donated by local stores. No one's ever given me 2 dozen roses before! I smile every time I look at them.