Thursday, September 22, 2005

Another project from my stash

Monday was dye day. I have "more than one" Rambo fleece in the stash and was planning on dyeing some and blending it with some Mohair that I had. Everything was already washed so I got the dyes out and went at it. I'd measured a pound of wool out and put it in the sink to soak, made the dye and added the wool, repeated the process for the other dye pot and then found a notecard in the bag with the fleece that told me that it wasn't Rambouillet, it was the corriedale/merino that I thought I'd purchased in NY last fall but couldn't find. Of course, I figured I'd lost my mind and went on to something else! Well, there it was!
I used Gaywool Dyes "Musk" color but purposely used less than recommended for the amount of wool in the pots. Because I dyed before picking or carding, I got a nice variegated effect, it was a kind of Williamsburg blue with lighter portions as well as Indigo portions as well. After picking the color blended nicely though there was still a small amount of variation. After carding the color seemed very light. It went from being what I would have thought of as "Boy sweater Blue" to "Girl sweater Blue". I spun a sample to see if the color would darken in the finished yarn. It did just a little bit, but not very significantly. I photographed the yarn on top of the carded batt to compare the color. I have not enhanced the color or clarity of any of the photos. The yarn is soft and wonderful, and I'm really enjoying spinning from this fleece.
I'm not sure what I'm doing with the wool yet, but I'm sure it'll announce to me soon what it wants to be.

3 comments:

Alison said...

Very nice color!

Pugknits said...

LOL, that's a cute surprise! love the soft blue :)

LadyV said...

Vicki, that is really pretty. I wonder what it's going to ask to be.