Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Dye day.....

I pulled out my dye pots last night after dinner and sorted my entire box of wool dyes. I have a nice selection of colors and it's great fun choosing what colors to use. It seems my yarns never come out exactly the same from year to year using the same dyes and I always have a few surprises before I'm finished :)

Wool dye assortment

I normally use Cushing's Perfection Dyes which are an acid dye used for animal fibers. They are manufactured in Kennebunkport, Maine. The dyes are sold in these great little dark yellow envelopes containing a plastic bag with a measured amount of powdered dye inside. The instructions are right on the front of the envelope and are easy to follow. I went to the shop last year and it was so much fun buying dyes at the store. They have great wooden slotted shelves filled with these little packages of dyes. It was hard to choose which ones to buy....I wanted one of each! Lets just say I have plenty of dye to last me quite some time :)



I use just two dye pots and do small amounts so it takes me quite some time to dye all my yarn but I really enjoy it so I don't mind. Today we dyed 14 skeins. I love the colors Mom and I picked out and will set another two pots on the stove overnight. We are having beautiful weather and the yarn is drying quickly on the porch.

Once the dyed skeins are dry, I'll re-skein them so they are nice and fluffy. We tag them individually with our Tylerfarm tags and we sell them in old wooden apple boxes. It creates a nice display.

Wednesday's dye results


This old drying rack works great for drying the skeins. I found this rack at the local antique/junk shop (The chicken barn - someday I'll post about this place, it's great! ) for $6.00. It will hold about 30 skeins. It needs a new dowel but other than that in was in great shape.

Hopefully I'll have more dyed yarn photos to post tomorrow!


5 comments:

Throwback at Trapper Creek said...

Beautiful colors! And I have a rack just like that one. Same thing, good price and a missing dowel. Can't wait to see more.

Pamela said...

What beautiful colors! How do you decide which colors to do with so many to choose from. Just gorgeous!

Deb said...

nita,
Thanks :) Don't you just love those great finds? That rack has been so handy ever since I bought it. Every chance I get to stop in a shop like that, I look for another one.

pamela,
Thank you - I try to remember what everyone liked the best last year, including myself. I do keep a little dye journal from year to year with notes about each color which helps :)

Unknown said...

The squash is beautiful! So is everything else! I miss being able to grow things without being in a constant drought. I started a small garden for my daughter this year and she got quite a bit of carrots and her watermelon are growing but it was a bit difficult watering everything and watching the water bill.

Deb said...

betty,
Thanks so much for visiting.....it was a tough year for so many people that were trying to garden. We had so much rain in the spring and then it's been terribly dry. We have all tried to be careful with the water...hopefully next year will be a little easier for all of us :O)