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01/11/2006

Dyeing adventures!

Bored with spinning my white roving, I decided to try to dye my roving, according to the instructions found here. I used kool-aid instead of real dyes, and no vinegar or anything like that.

First, I soaked the roving and made up 4 colors of kool-aid. I only had reds, orange, and grape left, so my color palette was limited.

Next, I poured the colors randomly onto the soaked roving, and put the pan in the oven until the water was almost boiling.



I made the mistake of putting the roving PLUS water into the pan before this began, which meant all the colors ran together a bit. Here's what it looked like after the oven:



I let the roving sit in the pan for a while, then transferred it back to the sink to rinse it out.



The roving dried Very Very fast - it came out of the oven at around 11, and was mostly fine for spinning by 6 or 7. I spun it all up and am now extremely addicted to the process - this stuff was super fun to spin! Here are some shots:



I initially thought the color was like Fruit Roll-Ups, but now, in the daylight, it seems like something else. It's more of a brick, orange red. Like that lipstick you can't wear because it's so trampy. I'm still so proud of the results - it's 39 yards, 5 more than my last attempt, and I think I could have gone on longer. I'm getting way better at spinning evenly, slightly better at not making everything overspun, and much better at winding the yarn around the spindle efficiently so I'll be able to hold more on there and have longer skeins. I made a new batch this morning, not making that mistake with the water, so the colors didn't seem to run. Later I'll be able to spin it! eee!

09:35 Posted in dyeing, spinning | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this