More Fun Than Dying Easter Eggs!!

Well, I have been pretty busy the last few weeks, and it's been hard to find the time to write.
But, yesterday - I had a burst of energy. I had spun up all of the rovings that I dyed a few weeks ago, so I decided it was time to start on some more. I spent a few hours in the kitchen, and voila! Here is my finished work - um - I didn't dye the cat, just in case you're wondering.
Pippin is my pest - and if I have wool, or fleece, or whatever - she has to be in the middle of it all.

I worked with both kool-aid, and low acid dyes this time around. I also did some handpainting,
and some dyed in the bag work. By "dyed in the bag" what I mean is that you put the wool into a zip lock baggie, and pour the dyes in on top.
Zip the baggie, and smoosh everything around. You can mix more than one colour this way as well.

I also dyed some loose locks from a couple of fleeces
that I have been spinning.
On the right hand side of this picture, are locks
from Alice, one of my favourite white
Shetlands. She has such nice soft fleece.
I did her up with Cherry and orange
kool-aid, and for the yellow, I used a low acid
dye. The bottom was done with a teal low
acid dye that I mixed up from blue and
yellow dye. On the left hand side of the
picture is some of Merlin's fleece. Merlin is
a grey ram with a very soft fleece that isn't very crimpy. I used teal and purple low acid dyes.
This was done in 2 separate bags. I plan to get a
drum carder later this year, and will probably
start and do some blended up batts or rovings.


This last picture is just another picture of the rovings, sans cat (boy - she didn't like it when I
moved her). You can just see some of the colours a little bit better. The bright blue in the middle of the picture comes from Ice Blue kool-aid. However, I think I am partial to the
red/orange/yellow roving on the left side of the picture. It's so sunny and bright. If I get a chance, I will take more pictures and post them as I open each bag and start to spin.

I've also taken 18 pounds of wool to the local mill to be made into rovings. It should be a lot of fun when it comes back. I'll probably dye a lot of it up as well.

I'm also getting ready for shearing on May 9th. Most fleeces will go for rovings, some will go for
felts to make slippers, and a few will be kept to dye locks and blend when I get my drum carder.