Commission

Sometimes I find commission pieces hard to do. This is one that was requested in a lovely lilac colour. I don't have anything against lilac, in fact I quite like it. But the question is always, where to start and what to put into it. It's endless. So after months of putting it off... Here it is.

I really love the silk twine that I picked up 2 years ago from a dye company called Oliver Twist. They are a very sculptural element to a soft hat. White twigs are what they remind me of. The silk dyed well and incorporated more than one colour to the surface of the hat as well at the bow and band. I'm very happy with the results and so was Dee.

Craft Show

Tribal Nuno Scarf.

For the past month or so, I've been getting ready for a craft show at the kids school. It's on Sunday the 30th. This week is photographing and pricing things.















SOLD
This scarf is wool/silk with silk strands running in a trellis pattern across the front. I dyed the fibre and silk.















SOLD
Silk ponge with a window pane of wool/silk. Whisper thin.















Mad Retro plaid print silk from the 60's found in a vintage fabric shop in NY years ago. It's a large wrap with orange wool panels to create a nuno felt effect.















SOLD
Hand dyed silk ponge, wool and silk scarf in rust, plum and sand.















Aqua - SOLD
Floral Broaches.















SOLD
Hand dyed wool/silk fibre with silk crepe strips are made into a sheer cobweb scarf.



















More fibre that I dyed with a blossom edge.















Bangles galore!





























Aqua/Brown - SOLD











































Pink/Brown - SOLD











Pink/Green - SOLD
Now the key is selling them! Should be fun and they're really lovely

Going, Going, Gone

What a suprise! Before delivery to the Knitting and Stitching Show booth that they were intended for, I had sold 6 out of 11 of the dyed fibre. Need to dye some more before Saturday!

Fibre to Dye For

Brown Blue Faced Leicester and Silk Mix overdyed with acid dyes.















White and Brown Blue Faced Leicester fibre















More of the white Blue Faced Leicester. Gorgeous fibre to spin and felt with.















Ready for the annual Knitting and Stitching Show this weekend in Dublin.

Before and After

Summer 07' we were in the states on holiday. We picked up a lot of stuff along the way that are scarce or really expensive in Ireland. Joann Fabrics has an amazing sale table. Bolts of silk crepe for $4.00 a yard. So what do you do? Buy it all!! Came home with Teal, Aqua, Purple, Hot Pink and the lovely Beige. Feltmakers always need silk for Nuno felt.

Kidding on the Beige. It reminds me of my first real pantyhose that I got when I was in Jr. High School. I was a real grown up. Suntan pantyhose. Ok, Nobody has a suntan that colour. But, in the case of silk, you can dye it!




















Broke out the Food colouring. Cochineal, drop of Red and a bit of Blue. It's actually a deeper shade than the photo, but it's really pretty. I may overdye it again in blue. The Wensleydale roving or top felted in beautifully and really crinkles up. I didn't shrink in the length, so it about 2 yards long. Looking forward to a little cooler weather to wear it around my neck.

To Market, To Market

Not to my market (Etsy), but to Diane. She's teaching a drop Spinning class in October in Galway for the Knitters Retreat. 50 grams each of Blue Faced Leicester fibre. This is gorgeous to spin and silky to felt. Anyway, off it went yesterday to 16 lucky spinners. Have fun.

Dyeing Cocoons

Did a bit more dyeing for the silk day. Food colouring, cake colour, vinegar and cocoons.

Soak cocoons for several hours if you have the time. Not necessary though. With the boiling, they get soft.

Add vinegar to the microwave safe bowl. A Tablespoon or good glug will do. The more vinegar, the faster the colour will take up into the cocoons.

I try and do everything in the same container. Less washing.


Add enough water to cover cocoons if they were to sink. A couple of inches or 5 centimeters.

Decide on the colours you want, mix if necessary and add directly onto the wet cocoons. You can get multi colours by dyeing half and then rinsing and do the same again turning them over.

Microwave on high for 3 minutes, let stand for 2-3 minutes. Repeat. You should have good saturation at this point. Make sure you turn them over part way through if you want an even coverage. They will be soft when done, but will go back to very hard once they dry.

Blue Faced Leicester

The last 2 days have been dyeing days.














Fibre of choice was Blue Face Leicester. This was pre-spun and fantastic to dye. Used food colouring, Kool-Aid and chemical dyes.


The fibre is also Blue Face Leicester and spins up beautifully.
Mostly chemical acid dyes on these. Tried to use up the bits left over from the first dyeing session.


Random dye pattern. Stripey, splashey, squirty and then some. DD helped out with the colour choices, so we have lots of brights and red/pink/purple combos.




I really like the dark one. It's dark brown, burgundy and gold nugget. I'd like to see how that spins up. It's always amazing how the twist effect the colours.


These are for the Knitting and Stitching Show that starts on Thursday. A mere 8.00 euro for 100 grms.
What a bargain!!

A Day to Dye For

Today was our Guild meeting for the Irish Weavers, Spinners and Dyers. Our location was at Kathleen's farm about an hours drive west of Dublin. Kathleen is a professional willow basket weaver, although I know she can weave most anything into lovely baskets. She grows her own willow as well as veg, ducks, chickens and a few horses. She's a transplanted pioneer from the US. She treated us all today by sharing her world of willow. The barn and weaving studio look as if they were staged for a photo shoot, although I know it wasn't. Stacks of willow reeds were in the studio drying, while the peat burning stove kept the room toasty warm.

Today was my day to discuss what little I know about chemical and acid dyes. My experience has been strictly self taught and by trial and error. I must say, you need to be flexible and willing to risk a bit of wool. I have had some bad dye jobs. (wool not hair) So with that in mind, I set to work showing our eager guild about how to mix and apply colour to hand spun yarn, roving and commercially spun yarn for the weavers in the crowd.

The problem with being the demonstrator is that you don't get many pictures. I did an over dye of Lemon-Lime Kool Aid over a brown and white Jacobs yarn. It turned out really kool! Roving was done in Cushing Bronze Green, Salmon, Aqua and Chartreuse. Juliet took that home before it had a chance to cool down and Maire bought the Galway cross Coils plyed with mohair. It was dyed in a bath of Magenta and jars of Orange, Pink Rose and Violet. They really suited her. I wish I had a bigger pot to have been able to spread the jars out a bit more, but it was a practice day and most of my things are packed.Kathleen also did some natural dyes outside. Onion skins, Logwood and something else with a couple different mordants to show us how the colours change. Really amazing. The weather was great and so was the day.