Reclaiming Success

Part of me was saying, “Just throw it all out!”  My first foray into Kool-Aid dyeing had turned out just ugly, ugly, ugly.  I was relieved that at least I’d thought to buy the cheapest roving I could find to start out on, but that was probably the only highlight of the whole experiment.  Chucking it all out and forgetting it ever happened might be the best way forward!

But, looking at it, I realised that, although the purple and green were hideous together and the blue and red clashed jarringly, there was a possibility of salvaging this disaster.  If I split them up and spun the blue with the green and the purple with the red, it might work.

I got out the wheel and got right to work.  The first thing I noticed was that this was some tough roving.  I’d bought it from a vendor at the Waynesburg Sheep and Wool Festival and, even as I was looking at it, the lady running the stall was trying to get me to buy another kind instead.  “That one’s just not that nice,” she said, pointing to the wool and alpaca mix I was fingering.  “This one over here is much better for spinning.”  But I explained that I was looking for something really cheap try dyeing with and, besides, I was used to spinning with uncooperative wool.

I’d never spun with commercially prepared roving in the UK, let alone top.  I learned to card when I first learned to spin, but quickly decided I just couldn’t be fussed to do it, and started spinning directly from the raw fleece instead.  It wasn’t easy at first — raw fleece is full of little knotted bits and vegetable matter (and very occasionally a dead bug or a lump of poo) — but my fingers soon became adept at sorting the wool as I drafted.  Spinning in the grease was highly economical as well, because the bottom has fallen out of the UK wool market — it often costs the farmers more to transport their shorn fleeces to market than they actual make from the sale — and I could get a good (whole) fleece for about £5, and very often for free just for asking.  Before long, I was able to spin an even, fine single direct from the raw fleece.

But there are no such bargains to be had in the US — fleeces here cost upwards from $40 — and, with my daughter showing signs of a possible allergy to lanolin, I’ve switched to spinning from roving and top.  At first, I didn’t like it — where was the challenge?  It’s all so smooth, it’s almost pre-drafted!  But I’ve quickly gotten used to it — spoiled, in fact.  It’s so easy and… oh yes,  so clean!  It doesn’t fight my fingers, it gives in so seductively, and raw fleece never came in the glorious colourways I’ve been collecting lately.

So it came as a bit of shock to be handling such an unruly wool again.  This roving didn’t want to submit — it chucked slubs and knots and vegetable matter at me.  And it argued, it stuck…  it annoyed me.  I suddenly  realised just how spoiled I’ve become!

But I carried on, let the slubs pass through for character while my fingers tried to remember what to do, and somewhat proudly finished spinning my first attempt at Kool-Aid dyeing.  It isn’t a nice yarn — it’s too rough and scratchy — and there’s not much of it, but the I think the result has clawed back some measure of success from disaster.

MDSW: A Day of Fibre Heaven!

Once upon a time, there was a girl who went to Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival.  And she had a fabulous time.

And she got lots and lots of loot.  And she spent waaaaaay too much money.  And she met Jess and Mary-Heather from Ravelry.  And she ran into her friend Cosy.  And she met up with friends from her knitting group. And she met with a cyber-friend that she’d never before got the chance to meet in person.  And her husband and children were bored to tears, but they were very, very patient  for her sake.

And she listened to music.  And talked to sheep.  And she smelled all the wonderful fair-food smells.  And she looked at fibre and touched fibre and smelled fibre and lusted after the fibre and… and… and…

It was all too much.  She thought about blogging about but there was so much to say, she didn’t know where to start!  So she never did.  And, as time passed, more wonderful fiber-y things happened that she really wanted to blog about, but the first things about MDSW hadn’t yet been said, so the next things had to wait in the queue… and so they never got said either

And she thought they’d never get said.  And she thought it was all too much.  And she nearly gave up.

And then…  she told herself to get over it already and just GET ON WITH IT.  It’s only a bloody blog post!  Sheesh!

So here you go, dear readers…  Without further ado, I would like to introduce you to my MDSW swag…

Some gorgeous purpley-bluey-greeny top from Fat Cat Knits…

I could not resist this top from Woolerina…

Some fun dyed Wenslydale locks that I thought would be great to just drop into my spinning here and there…

I loved this purple and green from Dancing Leaf Farm so much that I bought two…

Some top in random colours from Stony Mountain, to spin on my spindle…

I got this yarn from Dancing Leaf Farm to make a Mother’s Day gift for my mum, and then immediately regretted not getting more!…

And finally, as I was looking at all these colours, I thought, “Maybe I should get in on this dyeing lark myself…” so I picked up two bags of undyed top from Little Barn, just to play with…