Setbacks
A few weeks ago, I wrote a dyeing tutorial, and I mentioned what I would do if my washing machine broke. I hesitated before writing that because it's kind of dangerous for me to say things like that. The washing machine did break, and also the well on our property blew out a pump, so we were without water for awhile.
So, I was unable to get much dyeing done. I did manage a couple of skeins here and there like the ones pictured above by rolling my wetted yarn in towels before dyeing to remove excess water. Though, I knew there might be some drawbacks.
Here's a swatch of yarn I dyed:
Colors are fairly bright, but look what happened when I started felting my slippers. Some mellowing of color does occur through the repeated washings necessary for the fulling process, but my blue faded so much and more on one slipper.
Luckily, these aren't so bad.
The reason I like to spin my wool out before dyeing is so the dye can penetrate evenly. I guess there were still some heavily wetted spots that wouldn't allow the dye take up I desired.
I did buy an extractor, sometimes called a spin dryer, and it arrived today. I'm delighted. It seems it will be good for spinning out my hand washables as well.
All of this set me back in my preparations for the studio tour that's in less than two weeks! I'll be busy, but will take it in stride.
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STOPIt is so interesting how a little water can make such a difference!
And sometimes you can use that purposely to get a certain effect.
Exactly right! The washed out pastels are actually kinda cool looking.
Oh no, a broken washing machine is 💩💩💩 and being without water even more 💩💩💩💩. I hope the well is fixed and you could repair the machine.
I loooove the faded yarn and I so admire your colour combinations. The stripes in two variegated yarns look absolutely stunning.
And with this spin dryer thingy... never heard of it 😆 Right now I envision something like a salad spinner, only for wool 😆😆😆
Thanks @neumannsalva! In desperation, I did try a salad spinner, but it didn’t work. 🙂
Oh, thank you for your post, I want to try dyeing too...I like the colors...
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Thanks @jurich60! I hope to show my process for vat dyeing soon. Very simple. I'll be doing solid colors.
We used to have one of those extractors. They are very efficient! I remember wrapping delicate items in a towel before putting them in the extractor - it could be very fierce.
Like @jamethiel, I quite like the faded colours.
If you would like to take part in the needleworkmonday @treeplanter voting circle, please have a look at this post.
Thanks for the heads up on the voting circle! Also, thanks for the tip about using a towel in the extractor! It might come in handy. 🙂
I also like those pastel colours, @kimmac... We recently had to buy a new spinner to try and deal with some of the wet stuff after the flood... It works great... good to see that it's got 'happier' uses...
Sorry about you flood! Do you plan on using your extractor still? In some cases, it can reduce energy costs if you use it before putting clothes in the dryer.
Thanks for the thumbs up on the pastel colors. The slippers need more felting still. I am going to put extra effort into sculpting them into pleasing shapes like emphasizing the arch. Maybe that will help me appreciate them more.
That's okay, @kimmac... only the damp smell's still lingering. We don't actually have a dryer but we tend to put the heating quite a bit as we live in an old stone farmhouse so it sort of compensates - I've been told it's not very healthy, but I have no other way of drying clothes other than radiators and clothes driers... Having the spinner will help take those last pesky drops of water to make the process faster now :D
I went on a felted hat making course once and we used head 'moulds' (?) for the final stages of the felting / shaping. As your slippers are your own design you'd have to carve out a mould to help you with the shaping :D
I use my feet. Even for the big ones. 🙂 Stone farmhouse sounds lovely!
You are really talented. I depend on whatever colors I can buy from the store. Your dyeing came out great.
Thanks @jluv2fly! When I first started dyeing, I had less favorable results, but I gave myself a pat on the back anyway and kept at it.