Fall Wool Gathering Day 2

Today, I was supposed to go weave on the shawls that they always raffle off at this event. I forgot... As it turned out, I wasn't needed, so it didn't matter.

I took my camera today because in talking with Barb yesterday, it was mentioned that she had never over-dyed moorit/brown fiber. Last night, in preparation, I spun and plied three small skeins for her to use in her dye demo today.

Today, she used food coloring, not kool-aid, and the results were fun! She had 3 crock-pots, and asked the onlookers to chose colors for each. We had a blue green, a red and a multi-colored one.

After all the fiber was in and cooking, the participants were told to come back in 20 minutes and the great unveiling would happen.

I should mention here, that with rare exceptions, nothing stays its original color at my house. I will over-dye anything, so much so that my Reno friends called me the Queen of Overdye. That was my response to, "I don't like this color," or, "It didn't turn out like I wanted." Over-dye it!! Correy said that she isn't sure about selling moorit wool to me because I don't leave it brown very often!

So, the unveiling:

In the bluegreen pot, we had gray, white and brown wool, and a champagne mohair.

In order top to bottom: White, Brown, Gray and mohair

In the red we had the same, without the mohair.

In order top to bottom: Brown, Gray, White.

 The same three were in the multi-colored pot:

Top to bottom: Gray, White, Brown

I pulled the brown skein up so you can see all the color

I love using brown. The warmth it adds to the dye is incredible. When all the yarn was coming out of the pots, everyone was oohing and aahing, and exclaiming, "Look at the brown!" I think I made a convert...

I took the Country Craftsman wheel today, so as not to have to deal with the Ashford's tempermentalism. I have decided to put a double treadle kit on it... I was spinning a 50/50 blend of moorit merino and alpaca (that was the same brown). I have another skein that I spun a year ago on an Ashford, but I was spinning more finely today, so I'll just have to keep going with the thin stuff! It's really pretty, and I have a lot more of the roving.

It was really fun to go to the festival and not have a booth. While I'm gearing up for Oregon Flock and Fiber - this will be dyeing central for the next week + - it's fun to kick back and just enjoy it, and not work. Don't get me wrong, I love doing a booth at OFFF. I share a booth with Sue, and we're in the barn - very nice if it rains! It's fun to be close to the animals who contribute to our wares. It's a hoot to watch people, and engage in educational opportunities. I wouldn't miss it.

So, off to ply the yarn spun today, and do some real work...