Once a month a group of us spinning types get together to talk about sheep, wool, yarn, spinning, and pretty much every other topic that comes up! It is one of the highlights of my month. This month, I got to host, and our topic was dying wool. One of our number is pretty much a professional, her hand-dyed yarns are just breathtaking -if you get a moment, check out Cranberry Creek Fiber. I have always used a crock pot for my dying, so I jumped at the chance to see how the big boys do it!!!
First, we assembled all of the equipment - the yarn, the pots, the dye, the wools.
It involves a lot of hot water and poking things with big wooden spoons, and some careful gauging of temperature. Mary, however, made it look easy!
I also snuck in a little crock-pot dye time - honestly, I do almost everything in a crock-pot. In the end, I had lots of dyed roving for spinning, and some incredible dyed yarns.
Mary introduced me to some colors I would never have used, and now I am obsessed with them - oh yeah, I am getting me some of that orchid!!!!
At the end of the day, my knees hurt like the dickens, but I put my feet up and basically felt sorry for everyone who was not me today! I can't imagine life being any better...