Still Dyeing!

Having finished my first jumbo bobbin of Shetland singles for my proposed Handspun Harris Tweed - it turned out at 1417m and weighed 350g and then I was ready to dye it. Using Omega dyes this time which are really straightforward.  I have also bought a little scale to measure out the dyes, and it's very useful.

3g of Sun gold dissolved and mixed into the simmering water. A quarter of the hank submerged and left for 20mins then rinsed and spun in a horizontal spin drier.

Then 5.5g Turquoise dye dumped in on top of the yellow (too mean to boil up more hot water!)

 

This gave a lovely light green.  Then 7g Flame.

 And finally weighed out the last dye - 5g medium blue.

And here is the last quarter hank soaking and simmering....

Then the hank was washed in liquid soap (courtesy of Hebridean Soap Ltd), rinsed with a little white vinegar, and spun till it was nearly dry.  Of course I forgot to take a picture of the hank when it was finished!

Above is the hank wound onto a cone.  Interestingly, it measured 1380m and weighed 349g on this occasion.  So this worked out to be around a 9 cut.

For the next hank, I had run out of Flame dye so substituted wine red.  Again dyed in the same order so the yellow and green (turquoise) are the same as the first hank, but the wine red came out a rich Christmassy colour (if you know what I mean) and this in turn reacted with the medium blue to make a vivid purple.

It is just fascinating to see what happens isn't it!

Next hank - which will not be very soon as I have a lot of work on just now - I'm going to put in a substitute for the turquoise.  Haven't decided what to put in its place yet, any suggestions??

If you are wondering what all this is going to look like when it's woven up, then I'm afraid you'll have to wait and see, because I haven't a clue either!!

Busy this week assembling Hattersley looms for the forthcoming weaver training course; warping up another grey Hobbit linen while I have the 3 ends to a dent reed in and threaded up;  finishing off some gorgeous mohair for Sallie at Driftwater Weaves; starting picking black Wensleydale for rasta yarn which will be off to Tracy at Gedgrave Wensleydales in Suffolk when it's finished; and carding up Daisy the cross Cheviot's fleece from last year which I thought would look nice as a rug to take with me to the Uist Wool Group Michaelmas Event in Grimsay on 24th September.

In between times, the Cheviot ram is continuing his Golden Hoof treatment for footrot, which seems to be working well, the Hebridean sheep keep breaking out of their field and running riot around the neighbouring crofts (they are supposed to be confined until the end of September), and Tilly the cat has been catching mice like the true trooper she is!