It’s been a busy week on the dyeing front around here – as evidenced by the growing pile of yarns and fibers to be photographed, the rapidly filling drying racks, and the ever-changing splotches of color on my hands. It’s not every profession that allows you to get away with blue and yellow streaks on your fingers. (Yes, I love my job, why do you ask?)
The biggest project has been a twenty-skein order from a local yarn store. Remember, the one that carries my merino/silk laceweights? We’re swapping out some current colorways and renewing some old favorites.
I’m a little concerned though. My supplier might be hiking the price on the laceweight yarn base, and that would mean hunting for a new yarn blend. I have a potential source in mind as backup, but we’ll wait and see.
And, in and around those twenty skeins, I’ve been doing a lot of fiber dyeing. I’ve got at least five batches of rovings ready to be photographed, and listed in the near future. I’m rather tickled about that. It’s been awhile since I brought in some new fibers.
Waterlilies
I’ve railed at myself to stop trying to do multiple dye colors in one day. I’ve threatened, groaned, said I had learned my lesson, and so on. It hasn’t done much good. I did four colorways in one day. However, I did them in two sets of two, so it wasn’t so bad. These are all fibers that will be going up on the Etsy store.
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I went to a craft show with my grandmother and two of my sisters. Guess what I had my eyes peeled for? Jewelry! No, I’m kidding. (Although there was some pretty stuff there.) I was looking for spinning fibers and I sure found them. There was literally only one place that had roving: Au Gres Sheep Factory. My sister stopped to look at some felted Christmas stockings hanging up outside the stall. I kept walking because I wasn’t all that interested, but on the other side of the stall I spotted two full fleeces. (Tibetian fleeces, actually. Very pretty, but one would have cost as much as my wheel.) I hurried back to the front of the stall and peered in. Two wonderful baskets sat on the floor filled with bags of wool. One basket had dyed roving in it, the other had natural.
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It all started in my aunt’s living room. My family and I were on vacation, and we were coming up with different ideas for cottage industries that I might be able to do. My dad thought of weaving, since I liked yarn, and in the process of researching looms and whatnot, my wonderful aunt brought out a copy of SpinOff magazine. I was hooked.
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