Tag: wool

Sweater SAL 1

PiaAcid Dyeing

I’m participating in a sweater spin-along with the Danish Spinners, a somewhat long project for most of us since we all pretty much try to do 100 projects at a time….

Originally I just wanted to spin these 4 chunks of Shetland wool, dye the white and the others as is. But… I couldn’t really get started on the browns… I also didn’t want to knit a stranded sweater. I’ve had various ideas how to design a pattern using the 4 shades without making it look like Fair Isle, but… Continue reading “Sweater SAL 1” →

Eco friendly dyeing

PiaPÃ¥ dansk

At the moment when I plant dye I use the old recipes, the usual metal based mordants etc. to get some experience under my wings. But just because it’s done with plants, all these chemicals doesn’t also make it natural. “Wear a mask as you measure up the powder, gloves too”. In fact chrome, used in many recipes, is illegal here now for regular use, you can’t buy it. It can in fact alter your DNA!

So to go all the way, I’d like to switch to natural mordants when possible (meaning that of course I’d still like to get the range of colours I’ve been discovering), so I’ll be doing a bit of research on that. I know India Flint does it, her book Eco Colour is very inspiring. The other day a fellow blogger introduced me to another one written specifically about using Native American plants and methods rather than Continue reading “Eco friendly dyeing” →

Elizabeth

PiaSpinning

Today I’d like to introduce my wonderful wheel, a 20 year old double drive from Ashford. I got it a year ago after spinning on spindles about 4 months, and I have to say, as much as I learned by starting on a spindle, I do enjoy using the wheel more.

Ashford Elizabeth I

I haven’t tried any other wheels, but with the whole range of bobbins and pulleys and lots more to learn I don’t see the point in switching. Apart from a weird inability lately to run the flyer in scotch tension, it’s always very easy to adjust to what I want. Have to look into that bit though, although I use DD most often, I have some qiviut that I’d like to spin with almost zero uptake.

The wheel came to me dark mahogany, so I’ve stained my extra bobbins to match. Dust collectors like you wouldn’t believe it, but nice I think. Oh, and I just luuuurve my tensioned Lazy Kate as well. Continue reading “Elizabeth” →

Dyer’s chamomile – Anthemis tinctoria – FarvegÃ¥seurt

PiaPÃ¥ dansk

first skeinsCame by my overgrown vegetable garden the other day and discovered the Anthemis in full bloom. Anticipating rain I got a bowl and nicked off all the heads.

So this year I’ll be dyeing with the heads and the leaves separately to see how that goes. First batch ended up getting boiled, and this doesn’t seem to ruin the colour like madder or weld, so I’ve just continued doing that as I forget to watch the kettle anyway. I will try a solar dyed batch just for “science”, though. The leaves were boiled as well.

I ended up with a total of 2000 g of flower heads over several harvests, most have been set out to dry for winter projects. Or to be sold in small dye kits if anyone is interested!

There is an inceredible amount of dyestuff in the flowers, after straining I poured the extra water for the dyebath over the sieve with the boiled flowers and strong yellow just kept coming out of them. So there’s a great opportunity for many shades of yellow here depending on how much wool you put in or using the dyebath several times. You might even boil the flowers several times and combine the results in a bigger dyepot.

Click for more pix and to Continue reading “Dyer’s chamomile – Anthemis tinctoria – FarvegÃ¥seurt” →

Trusting your instincts

PiaAcid Dyeing

Do you ever go against your own intuition and do things by the book or because someone told you so with their own inner conviction – and failed? Yes, I fail when I go my own way too, but my biggest “DUH – idiot” moments are always when I did not listen to my inner voice. Maybe I was even confounded by my own logic, pushing the touchy-feely stuff aside in favour of “science”. I’m a messy methodologist, laid back nitpick kinda person. Don’t tell me what that means, I don’t wanna know.

I really wish I’d learn not to. Ok, I do learn something from some of those mistakes too, but feeling stupid always annoys me. 😉

So when Ashford sells their rainbow colour kit as scarlet (fire engine red), blue and yellow, I thought there was probably some hidden chemical secret that would make this work, although I KNOW that magenta is really the purest primary colour for blending. (in the case of Ashford dyes, this is called hot pink) Continue reading “Trusting your instincts” →