Fibery stuff this week

Pincushion progress:

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First one felted and stitched up ready to fill, but I want to add icord loops or something to have the option of hanging them from a hook. (if I can find a suitable location away from cat paws) I decided to try out the dye with regular laundry detergent, twice. Original yarn included in the photo. It turned out rather larger than I expected after my blanket adventure, but I liked the fabric the way it was, so didn’t want to give it another go at a higher temp.

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Second one felted and ready to be stitched. Yarn is dyed with madder exhaust and Dyer’s Chamomile. Also washed with the clothes and detergent.

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Third one – yarn chosen but the shape hasn’t presented itself to me yet. Possibly a cube. Originally all three were going to be like the first, but then the second wanted to be different and I obliged. Apparently my inner self does not want to be classy, and for now I’m listening – as long as it’s actually saying something, fine! Even if it means the house will look like a cirkus… Skeins are dyed with Dyer’s Chamomile and Weld (the lighter one).

Suffolk preparation started:

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I’ve decided to just finger pick everything to get rid of the tiny bits of vegetable matter, then loosely blend on hand cards, which I hate but really doesn’t take such a long time as I imagined. To be spun into yarn for the tapestry testing, and when I’m done I have a huge box of Dorset that I’ve plant dyed which needs the same treatment. I thought I said something about not production spinning?!

Sample loom 1 done:

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Seems to be working fairly well, I’ll be testing various widths of warp, how many meters of yarn go into xx cm of weaving etc. I tried at first without nails, just wrapping around, but I think it will work better with nails on the front. Possibly because the frame is so small, pulling the warp up from the back really makes it very taut. As well as being fiddly to adjust the gaps.
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danishUgens fiberprojekter

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Nålepuder af plantefarvet garn undervejs: Første er klar til at blive fyldt, og så skal jeg lige have lavet en løkke i toppen til at hænge den op, inden jeg kan sy den sidste kant. Garnet er farvet med vaid.

Nr. 2 er filtet og klar til at blive syet sammen (kraprod og gåseurt), den sidste er der fundet garn frem til (gåseurt og vau). Jeg har vasket det sammen med tøjet og almindeligt vaskepulver, noget plantefarve kan ikke lide den behandling, men jeg ville lige prøve at se hvordan disse, normalt ret farveægte typer holdt sig.

Jeg er endelig gået i gang med den sidste klargøring af min Suffolk ham som jeg gik og sjatfarvede i sommer. Det bliver pillet fra hinanden med fingrene for at blive fri for plantefnuller og håndkartet løseligt (hvilket jeg er herredårlig til, men det går faktisk hurtigere end antaget.) Ja, og så er der naturligvis den kæmpe kasse Dorset jeg har plantefarvet, som skal samme vej…

Og så har jeg lavet en miniature væveramme til at lave lidt garn- og tekniktest på.

Felted blanket

I decided I wanted another blanket covering the box by the stove, and that it would be a fine way to test some of the plant dyed yarns. The original lid has white cloth on it, not very practical for cats with muddy paws.

The plan is to leave it there and take new pix after summer and after a year, after wash etc. to see how lightfast they are. Especially useful info for the tapestry project!

To make it sturdier I decided on a felted blanket, so I knit some squares very loosely, then threw it in the washing machine with soap flakes which are neutral and should not disturb the colours is my previous experience.

  • Start size: 75×85 cm, rather a lot larger than my swatch had indicated!
  • Size after 60 degree wash: 46 x 47 cm
  • Blocked: 50 x 50 cm
  • Colour development: No loss but some seem to have changed a bit. I guess I’ll have to find those skeins in the box and compare.
  • Yarn used: 185 g

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I’d expected to have to do another 90 degree wash and perhaps tumble dry AND handfelt a bit on the long side. It must have been the larger size and being washed with other items, because it ended up smaller than I wanted in the first wash. So instead I had to block it a bit. Actually I should have blocked it more, but whatever.

I used the same yarn base for all squares, and they were identical when I assembled them – so it’s quite funny how some now look smaller than the others. It’s fine, I meant it to be a bit random and organic looking. Now to see if I can get used to all that yellow. I’ve been saying that it’s amazing how nearly all plant dyed yarns seem to go well together. Well, they don’t quite. When I’m done with this, suntesting etc. I think it might have a meeting with an indigo vat. Which in itself will be interesting!

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Of course just now we won’t have any sun to speak of for about a week at least, so the photo conditions are not the best. But could I wait? Noooo….. I’ll have to compare colours to the remaining skeins. But it looks pretty much the same as what I put in the machine. Some plants are there twice, but dyed with different methods or mordants/modifiers.

I’m going to have to follow up later with the actual real colours in proper light, it’s just too dark here inside and out.

Filtetæppedanish

For at komme i gang med at bruge noget af mit plantefarvede garn, besluttede jeg at lave et lille tæppe til brændeovnstaburetten. Den har et låg med hvidt stof, ikke så smart til dovne katte med mudrede tæer, men vi har hidtil bare “midlertidigt” haft et spejdertæppe lagt hen over.

Så jeg tænkte jeg samtidig kunne bruge det til at lysteste nogen af planterne og strikkede derfor nogen meget løse firkanter af hver sit nøgle garn, så jeg bagefter kunne filte tæppet uden at ende med et bræt. Jeg har primært brugt de ældste fra 2011 fordi jeg også går og lurer på, om de falmer i sig selv af at bare ligge.

Det blev lidt rigeligt stort i forhold til min strikke-vaskeprøve, men jeg smed det frisk i maskinen på 60 grader med sæbespåner og et par håndklæder. Jeg havde egentlig regnet med, at det også skulle tumbles og måske vaskes på 90, men det kom faktisk mindre ud af maskinen end jeg skulle bruge! Så det måtte lige blokkes i stedet. Start: 75×85 cm, efter vask: 46×47, blokket: 50×50.

Farverne ser ikke ud til at have ændret sig i styrke, men nogen virker anderledes, så jeg må nok have kassen frem og finde de respektive nøgler, så jeg kan sammenligne. Sjovt nok er nogen af firkanterne mindre end de andre, altså filtet uens, for jeg har brugt samme garn hele vejen igennem. Men det er helt ok. Nu skal jeg så lige se om jeg kan vænne mig til alt det gule. Ellers ryger det i en gang indigo når jeg er færdig med at teste lysægthed. Der kommer et opdateret billede af de reelle farver, når vejret er til at fotografere uden blitz.

Jeg har brugt i alt 185 g garn.

More witchy brews – all done!

Finally got the last of the Dorsets coloured up with madder and weld. Some of the chunks had previously been dyed with other plants, but I wanted to see what happened if they had another dip – without any kind of plan or registration of which is what. Some dyed at 50 C, then a new batch in the same bath at 80 C for both plants.

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Now to flick and then wait until I can card it. There’s a total of 1400 g so it’s going to take a while, since I also have that Suffolk fleece from the same source. I know I should practice using my handcarders, but argh!

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And that’ll be all for a while, off to work on other stuff.

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Færdig

Endelig har jeg fået plantefarvet al min Dorset uld, så skal det bare renses for planterester og kartes en gang. Der er i alt 1400 g, så det kommer til at tage tid. Jeg har også en Suffolk ham som jeg har pletfarvet med syrefarver, den skal have samme behandling før jeg kan spinde.

Jeg har brugt kraprod og hjemmedyrket vau, første bad ved 50 grader, blandet bejset og ikke, derefter mere blandet og før-farvet uld i samme bad og op på 80 grader

Ikke mere plantefarvning i denne omgang, nu er der fokus på andre projekter.

Dye day

I decided to clean out my dye shelf and start afresh, running out of 1% “clean” colours and lots of little leftovers cluttering the place that I no longer remember the formula for.

So I dug out my bin of Suffolk fleece and just kept throwing chunks and dyes into a couple of pots of vinegar water, keeping them hot all the while.

And then I got all excited, mixed up a new batch of each dye and began mixing again to dye the rest of the fleece. For some reason all my different reds turned out a pretty similar orange, but that can be fixed….

This means I’m done “spot” dyeing my Suffolk fleece, apart from the batch I’m going to flick and spin as is or comb on my superfines.

I’d love to process the rest on a drumcarder however, because it’s not in any kind of lock formation, so I’m going to leave it for a bit to see if I can get a hold of one. Possibly spend idle hours (a concept I once read about) picking and flicking so the VM is gone.

It’s been separated into colour groups, each one will be a yarn I think.

Recently I also dyed some more Shetland for my sweater project

And a couple of sock yarns that are supposed to look like worn denim.

Leftovers

Whenever I mix too much dye I grab an old honey pot (or any handy jar), shove in a bit of fleece and pour over the leftovers. Sometimes I even layer them, sometimes that works, sometimes it all comes out a uniform colour when I pull it out. But the funny thing is, I’ve so far never gotten any “mud”! I then steam them when I have a whole bunch of jars. The wool seems fine even sitting there for a week before I find time to heat it.

I’m pretty sure that all these colourful chunks of Suffolk fleece are going to make funky, awesome socks someday… Or a blanket. Or something. I have 1600 g and plan to dye most of it apart from one bag of the best locks which I’ll spin as they are.

And yes, there’s still VM in there, but I’m going to pick/flick and spin directly unless I get mini combs or a drumcarder before I get through the whole lot, so no point in fussing too much over it now. I like the way the colour is not completely uniform when you dye the locks as opposed to the yarn.

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Farverester

Når jeg syrefarver har jeg nogen gange farve til overs, fx. fordi jeg fortynder mere end jeg regnede med. I stedet for at spilde det, blander jeg det enten sammen lidt tilfældigt og hælder over en håndfuld uld (jeg har en hel ham liggende) i et honningbæger, kaffeglas eller hvad jeg nu har ledigt, eller jeg hælder det på i “lag” hvilket nogen gange virker og giver en klump med variation, andre gange flyder det sammen. Sjovt nok har jeg aldrig fået mudderfarvet på den konto, selvom jeg eksperimenterer voldsomt med sammensætningen. (og nogen gange ærgrer jeg mig over at jeg ikke har noteret/målt blandingen fordi det blev super flot).

Når der så er bøtter nok, propper jeg dem i den store gryde og damper dem. På et tidspunkt regner jeg med der er nok til et par hippiesokker, et garnmaleri eller hvad pokker jeg nu finder på. Ulden tager tilsyneladende ikke skade af at stå i farvebadet selv i en uge.

Alle totterne er fra et Suffolk får, jeg fik ulden af min høleverandør og har selv vasket og sorteret den. Jeg bliver nok aldrig afhængig af uldvask, men det er nu alligevel en sær tilfredsstillelse at gennemføre et projekt helt fra bunden. Jeg har ikke renset ulden for planterester, det var nogen meget mågede får! Så jeg regner med at pille lokkerne fra hinanden og lige give det en kam inden jeg spinder. Jeg kan godt lide at farven bliver lidt uens når man farver på denne måde, frem for at farve garnet, jeg synes det giver mere liv og dybde. Der er 1600 g i alt, og ud over en pose med de bedste stykker sorteret fra, som jeg vil spinde direkte, har jeg tænkt mig at bare farve det hele i bidder og se hvor det fører mig hen.

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