Woolly Wednesdays - welcome to my dyeing studio

Yay for the return of Woolly Wednesdays!

Due to general busyness I have not spun in about 2 weeks. Gasp! I have however cleaned out the from porch and set it up to be a dyeing studio and gone about collecting wild bits to dye with or spin. Welcome to my studio. It is a not quite dry enclosed front porch. The front yard is graded wrong so it sends water toward the house, the porch is in need of real help but for now, it is clean and a pleasant work space.  It will be cold soon, but hopefully a space heater will help.

Milk weed pods from my front yard. I enjoyed the butterflies all summer now I am gathering the fibers inside. I read that mix with wool to be at least 20% wool they spin beautifully, are very insulating and a bit water proof.  We shall see.

The seeds from one pod.

The fiber from one pod. Very silky and beautiful.

Also one pod's worth, fluffed a bit, this makes a good down alternative too.

Bottles of Alum solution, trying to reuse and refresh rather than just dump it, and jars of tannin solution leftover from the acorn dyeing.  The window there leads to our den, so if I opened the curtains, I could keep an eye on the kids while they are on the computer.

I imagine this was once the front entrance to our house, now only me and an occasional wayward cat use it.

Ugly but comfy chair - there are two so pull up a seat - the bags have staghorn sumac, that I will be using as a dye soon. The Birch bark I collected (from a fallen tree) to try to make a basket from.

Drying rack, from front: first dye bath goldenrod, second dye bath goldenrod, and first dye bath trembling aspen.

I am planning on re-purposing this old kid's easel to dry hanging skeins from.

Re-purposed kid's desk covered in tile from goodwill, dye pot and burner.

Trembling Aspen leaves simmer to become second dye bath.

Two ounces of wool in alum mordant bath. bottle of water to rinse fibers, bucket to reclaim the rinse water and my toes, I should re-paint them.

Looking out the studio windows to my front yard.

Superwash yarn a most recently spun just inside the house

A closeup.

 Hope you enjoyed the tour, happy spinning! ~ Julia