Winter Fun

Winter fun for me is projects! Sure, I should be out playing in the snow, but when there's so much to do and only a few months to really have the serious time to do it (stained glass, knitting, spinning, dyeing, locker hooking, carding), I'm trying to stick around the casa. Did get out for one day of snowshoeing, but we aren't getting nearly the snow we did last year. It looks like April out there.

Yesterday, and last Friday as well, was a dye day. Have been buying white wool over the past year with the intention of someday dyeing it, so finally made it happen for some of it (this takes longer than you'd think). Friday I was over at a friend's house where we dyed some silk hankies as well as some red churro wool for my rug project. Those "hankies" (the yellow and blue squares on the left) are thin layers and layers of silk that were stretched over a frame into a square shape (so I'm told). Now I'll peel off layer after layer then stretch them into strips of roving, and spin that. To dye them, first you wet them down, lay them over some handiwrap, and start squirting your pre-mixed dye colors from bottles; work it in, then roll each one up the handiwrap like a burrito, then we steamed them in a turkey roaster to set the color. Thirty minutes later they are 'cooked' and done. Rinse and dry and when your hands are at their smoothest, start peeling and stretching layers to get ready to spin. The red churro was dyed in a big pot on the stove. It got a bit felted in the process so I'll have to do some puffing and pulling to get it to stretch into the thinner strips I'll need to locker hook it to the rug mesh. ah, one day soon I'll drag that out again. Wonder if I have a pic of that one.... don't think I've touched that project since '09 but it hasn't left my mind.

Yep, found a pic -- from June 09. I've done more, but then I messed up and was so mad that I have to take out some rows I had to put it away before I got out the torch. Perhaps I'm over it now and can once again start hooking. but when?

So back to Sunday's dye day. First time I used the new turkey fryer method. With this method, I can either steam or boil, tho not really boil, but it will be good for natural dyes when I collect all the Hollyhocks when they bloom, don't tell Bill. I have to use a propane tank, great, that's scary. Wonder how long I'll have eyebrows. Anyway, all went fine. The wool that got the color was about 9 ounces of a merino-mohair blend I've had for nine months, waiting for a dye day. I got some Cushing brand dyes the other day: Navy, turquoise and peacock blue. Just a total guess so that's what I used. Mixed up each color in a jar to get an idea of what they would be like. The navy was quite dark so I diluted it more but went heavy with the peacock and turquoise. I did two separate batches like this: Because I like to make things more difficult than necessary, and wanted to experiment to try to make longer  "color runs", I folded the roving into fourths, then divided into thirds among three ziplocks, and poured the dye into each ziplock, working it into the wool. So there would be a section that would be up and over into the next bad so the dye could bleed up those areas and join the next color, if that makes sense. So that's what I did. Then I put the three bags into the pot to be steamed for 30 minutes. After they cooled I rinsed and rinsed and rinsed cuz the turquoise just kept coming out and probably still is, but enough of that. There is always more rinsing after spinning, when you wet it again to "set the twist." I will see turquoise water again I am sure.

Working outside the shed, how cool is this. About 35 very pleasant degrees, in the sun.

Three bags steaming away.

The results, hanging to dry.

And already on the wheel. 'Dyeing' to see what it looks like, I spun some this morning. This is as a single, and later I will take two singles and ply them together and it should be quite thick I think. Trying to make it look like a handspun tho it goes against my grain... I will probably put this in the shop and try to sell it.

And in the evenings... I work on Jack. This is the latest. Not that much more to go. Maybe I'm getting quicker, but then I have to put foil around ALLLLL those pieces then solder. (who am I kidding -- still a ways to go.) But enjoying a lot of audio books out there: Last Flag Down, Mornings on Horseback, Team of Rivals; I'm heavily into the Civil War lately. Did you know General Grant was only 43 when the war ended? sheesh.