First, we had a bit of this type of blues :-
And then I thought it was about time I caught up with my dyeing and spinning activities. Two weeks ago (well, in my defence, we have been back to Spain again on holiday since then) I picked my woad leaves from the garden and dyed some of my Maco Merinos fleece. I stuffed rather a lot of fleece in the dye pot and, consequently, the dye take-up was a bit random to say the least. Serves me right! I was still pleased with the results though, with some really dark blue bits in there.
And can you see the little pink bits I got? Haven't had this happen before while trying to extract the blue, although I normally save the spent leaves and boil them up afterwards to get woad pink.
My rolags below show the different shades of blue, but once it's spun it'll even out a bit as I'm spinning two rolags at once onto the bobbin - one pale and one dark. Then when it's plied it'll even out even more.
These were my last woad leaves of the year, or so I thought! Whilst tidying up a very messy, unused vegetable bed the other day, look what I found :-
Then I checked on the plants I stripped of leaves last time :-
Pretty healthy eh? So, as long as our current bout of good weather lasts, I should be able to get in another woad dyeing session.
Next on the agenda was a bit of carding. As you can see, I had help (as usual!)
Jak just couldn't resist this alpaca fleece, it looked so soft and inviting, so he made himself a nest right in the middle.
In spite of his help, I managed to card about 90g of dirty white fluffiness. I'll wash it once it's spun - didn't think there was much point in washing it first as alpaca doesn't have any lanolin, just dust!
Now all I need are some empty bobbins. And there aren't many of those around here!
And then I thought it was about time I caught up with my dyeing and spinning activities. Two weeks ago (well, in my defence, we have been back to Spain again on holiday since then) I picked my woad leaves from the garden and dyed some of my Maco Merinos fleece. I stuffed rather a lot of fleece in the dye pot and, consequently, the dye take-up was a bit random to say the least. Serves me right! I was still pleased with the results though, with some really dark blue bits in there.
And can you see the little pink bits I got? Haven't had this happen before while trying to extract the blue, although I normally save the spent leaves and boil them up afterwards to get woad pink.
My rolags below show the different shades of blue, but once it's spun it'll even out a bit as I'm spinning two rolags at once onto the bobbin - one pale and one dark. Then when it's plied it'll even out even more.
These were my last woad leaves of the year, or so I thought! Whilst tidying up a very messy, unused vegetable bed the other day, look what I found :-
Then I checked on the plants I stripped of leaves last time :-
Pretty healthy eh? So, as long as our current bout of good weather lasts, I should be able to get in another woad dyeing session.
Next on the agenda was a bit of carding. As you can see, I had help (as usual!)
Jak just couldn't resist this alpaca fleece, it looked so soft and inviting, so he made himself a nest right in the middle.
In spite of his help, I managed to card about 90g of dirty white fluffiness. I'll wash it once it's spun - didn't think there was much point in washing it first as alpaca doesn't have any lanolin, just dust!
Now all I need are some empty bobbins. And there aren't many of those around here!
Interesting to see your drum from that side, to answer my question about the two speeds on the Ashford. I wonder if something like that could be added, if I knew a woodworker...
ReplyDeleteI did a bit of woad dyeing too this weekend - with too much fleece in it, LOL. Instead of green, the weld dyed fleece is neon!
Neon dyed fleece! Now, that sounds interesting - must pop over and have a look.
ReplyDeleteIt's still drying in a dark room, so no pix yet.
ReplyDelete