Dye, Dry, Spin!

Dye, Dry, Spin!

My First Art Yarns

Dyeing wool roving is a blast! I did several batches at a time. These are ones

that were still wet. You must be very cautious when moving or touching wet wool. The fiber strands can bond together and become stiff- it is called "felting". When dyeing roving (wool fiber) for use in spinning yarn or weaving, felting is undesirable! Wet wool

has to be handled very gently.

These skeins of wool roving came out great! I love how the dye took

to the wool and naturally created the variances of color. My favorite

is the one on the left. I am going to try to repeat it in future batches.

Waiting for the wool to dry is the most difficult for me; I really

want to see the end result....NOW! LOL. It can take more than

18 hours to dry.

I wasn't going for a rainbow effect, but sometimes

you don't get what you intended, yet the result is

still beautiful.

This batch is soft yellows, greens and even a hint of grey.

The small reddish patch is a lesson; wash your gloves before

touching a new batch, lol!

I spun this wool into a sample yarn and

plied it with a blue yarn. I really like the blend.

I tried my hand (and spindle!) at making 'beehives" or baubles. I was excited to see

them come into shape. They are far from perfect, i know, but they are my first so I

am not too concerned. I will gain skills while waiting to purchase a full on spinner. Right

now I have drop spindles and they are working pretty well. I have not "set" these yarns yet. Setting them through soaking or steaming them and letting dry will remove the springy -ness and they will be balanced; (they will hang straight).

The dyes used were Rit All Purpose and Jacquard Acid Dyes.