My Life in Knots

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Some spinning...I think I'm improving


Yeah it's sideways and I didn't fix it oh well! I did spin though. I am now doing the park and draft method which is working out better for me. I had some wool in grey (top small dowel) and brown (bottom small spindle) so spun up both then plied them together and ended up with a light worsted weight yarn.

My wonderful husband has been doing some wood working and made me 2 niddy noddies, a swift and another on the way. So I used the 16in niddy to hank up my spun creation to then soak and set the twist.

This is the hank of approximately 60 yrds of hand spun wool.

Then I wanted to play with some natural dyes. I have been told not to use an increasing acid bath on natural dyes containing red #3. But, if a girl wants reds or pinks what is she to do? Well I decided to try it anyways and picked up some Wilton food coloring paste in Rose Pink and dyed away. I soaked the yarn in clean warm water while I dissolved the paste in some hot water. Then I filled a pot with about the same temp water the yarn was soaking in and added the dye. I placed the yarn in the dye pot and turned up the heat!

After simmering for about 15 minutes I added about 1/3 cup of white vinegar hoping the addition of acid after the red#3 had time to set in would be better, and I think it's a success. I turned the heat up a bit more and let it rolling simmer for about 20 minutes until all the dye was incorperated into the yarn and the water in the pot was clear. Then set it aside and let it cool to room temp. I had filled a water basin with tap water as well and set out so they would both eventually come to the same temperature. Then I rinsed.

Here's the skein drying now. I'll get close ups later when I wind it up into a cake to show the color variations. It's a deep fushia/red coloring due to the base roving used.

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