Such a day! A group of us gathered at Val Galvins' Renditions in Rags for a Studio Day. Wool had been soaking overnight, and Vals' passion for what she does so well soon had us all caught up in the excitement of hand dyeing wool.
We had a lesson in the colour wheel and intensity, dyeing recipes, and two techniques.
The 'Casserole' dye results were very reminiscent of our old Hippie, Tie-Dye days. Yes, you scrunch up the wool to be dyed, and put it in a casserole dish, add dye, vinegar and salt. Yum! Cover, and bake.
The other method, was probably more 'Traditional'. You know, "Bubble bubble, toil and trouble". This way each dye pot had one colour and several pieces of wool. If the wool was re-cycled, and had already been coloured, there were surprises to be had there too.
This is all the dyed wool in the sink, there were four batches (four pots on the stove). As you can see, the pink/red has a little plaid piece, that when cut for hooking will make an interresting texture, without having to think about it.
The piece you see to the left of the yellows is a casserole dye piece.
What a beautiful sight! I really do remember hanging diapers out to dry, and how that pleased me. Just the sense of accomplishment I guess. But now this! This truly is my pleasure.
I remember ... long long ago and far far away... Grade three, actually. And every month we made a picture for our calendars. And the March picture was (always) sheep. Spring lambs, so sweet, and then they are let out to pasture, and March weather being what it is, they get all muddy.
I was surfing the net and found this fun site. Sheep and wool.
They have a yarn CSA. Community Supported Agriculture. Good on them. Hope you go to their page.
Yesterday I soaked a few Sweet Pea seeds, and today I planted them, just outside the office window. I feel very lucky to have found Renees Seeds at our local Buckerfields store. I've only grown the Spencer or Cuthbertson varieties, which are lovely, but I'm really looking forward to seeing these. I planted "April in Paris" and Cherie Amour". How can I go wrong?
Happy Spring Gardening!
