Wednesday, September 26, 2012

adventures in wool part two

 A fitting alternative title would be the trouble with bees.  I would have taken a picture of the goldenrod I used to dye this but I was busy.  I went out and gathered all the goldenrod from the yard I could find.  I saw the bees but thought I was being careful about knocking them off before I collected the flowers.  My husband is allergic, which prompted me to actually fit up the front porch as a dyeing studio, pictures of that later. So I only intended to bring the flowers into the house long enough to weight them I needed a 10:1 ratio for the dye vat. After accounting for the weight of the container I had just shy of 11 oz and called it good enough.  I dumped the flowers into the pot and started filling it with water when I noticed the pot was crawling with bees!
 I raced it outside and turned the hot water hose on. After filling up the pot and soaking the bees I decided to leave it for them to dry off and fly away while I got Butterfly home from school.  Yeah, not so much.  They dried off, but where still collecting from the flowers that stuck above the waterline. So I poked them with a stick and flung them away.  I then set the pot to boil.  The pictures above are the wool I got for my adventure, I think the color is prettier in person.
 Spinning project I am working on. I have four skeins like this so far.
 1+ lb of Bluefaced Leister/Romney cross, professionally milled and dyed pale indigo. I bought this at Wisconsin Sheep and Wool, which was awesome! Next year Mom and I are leaving Dad at home, as he did not have as nice a time as we did.  Mom decided to take up wool rug hooking while we were there.
I also got this 4+lbs of East Freisan/poly cross.  It is dirty but lovely. I spent about the same for these fleeces highlighting the need for a drum carder.  I also got an oz of silk hankies in pinks and browns.

I hope you project adventures are going well & without bees!~ Julia

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