We had the dyepot out for the 3 ply wool anyway and we thought we should make use of the moment to add colour to some of Anisha' s white carded wool that I have here waiting to be spun up.
(It is soon time again to shear our two sheep and I do have to keep up with the fleece they provide us with, which is some mission!)
Coloured wool is more fun to spin then white wool in my opinion.
The excitement is in the combinations of colours you pick for the dyeing process.
For this lot I picked yellow, lime green, blue and black and I used the hot pour method.The wool sits in the bottom of a pot with just enough water (some vinegar added) to cover it. You bring it up to about 85 C and then pour in the dyes starting with the lightest. Slightely simmer this for about 20 min or until all the dyes are taken up. And drain to see your result.
This method has a high level of surprising factors and little control.
The colours are soft and at first I wasn't too impressed. I think the PH was too high so the colours struck too soon and did not mix that much. But also my lime green totally separated and not a lot of green is left. The black turned grey...
But with dyeing fibre instead of spun yarn this is not the end result and I feel this could still turn out lovely somehow. First I have to spin this lot. Then I have to ply two of the singles together and this will make for some interesting blending of colours.
Watch this space.
Kiki also felt inspired and has decided that spinning colourful wool would be cool to do, so she did her own batch. This time she used the cold pour method and used different colours in random fashion.
She is delighted with her resulting fibre.
Quite sweet and girly I think.
She is going to spin it up herself too.
Just think of all these colours mixing while being spun and plied.
I wonder what she'll make with it. Whatever it will be it will be unique and scumptious.
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