Tuesday, January 15, 2008

resolution update

So far so good. I finally organized my dye recipes. I have 12 so far that I like and I have them all recorded and most of them have a sample of the spun yarn. There are a couple of bundles of fleece that people snatched up before I could spin it myself, and if people want to give me money for fleece, who am I to complain? Most of the yarn samples are the trimmings from my scarves. And, I will sheepishly admit, that most of them sat around for a while after being trimmed off. There seemed like there was so much to do before Christmas.
To complete this task, I have to dye and spin about three of my dye recipes. A hardship, I know, but I will somehow manage to suffer through it.

And here is another thing crossed off of my "to do " list. In the fall, I purchased some mohair from a local fiber farm. But when I dyed it, it became slightly felted and I had a really hard time drafting. OK, I'll admit it. It became really felted and I couldn't draft at all. So I decided to run it through the drum carder and make it spinable. It is really light and fluffy and I think that I am going to blend it with something before I spin it. But before that happens I might spin some of it as a sample of pure mohair.
I also did some more dyeing on the weekend and I have yet to see the results. I hung everything up on Sunday to dry and haven't gotten back to the school yet. Yesterday was errand day and today is a snow day and so I have a house full of children. I'll let you know how thing went tomorrow.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Isn't it a great feeling to get organized? The last few times I've dyed, I wrote the recipe as I was doing it, and stapled a swatch to it right away. (I've learned to keep baggies stocked with little mini-skeins of my favorite yarns and fibers, ready to test dye.)
I like your carded fiber, nice colors. I've GOT to learn how to use my carder one of these days.

David T. Macknet said...

I don't see any of your saddened silk on that card. If you need to do up a batch - just so you've a sample, of course - do let me know, as I'd be happy to buy a bunch of it! :)