Indigo Dye Vat 2015...cheating with prereduced AGAIN

My guild had a special event planned this last autumn, an indigo dyeing day at Ossabaw Island with Donna Hardy of Sea Island Indigo.  An advantage of doing this is the ability to use fresh indigo leaves as harvest time. The event was in October but the first date was cancelled on account of rain.

I worked and worked to scour (wash, mostly with washing soda) my textiles and a bit of yarn to bring.

There was also a bit of pretending to do shibori resist dyeing going on

On the SECOND appointed day I gathered up some friends, gear, and camera, and we drove to the dock in the south part of Savannah for the boat to Ossabaw. Unhappily, the day was cool and looking (again) like rain.  The boat captain was not daunted by the weather and ready to go. Donna however was not happy...she had had a group the day before and the dye results were not good as the vats are sensitive to the cold.  So...cancelled again.

So there I was with a bunch of clean ready to dye textiles and no opportunity to dye for another year...but then I thought...I can cheat and have my own session at home, right?  

So off to Dharma Trading for a box of prereduced indigo dye kit.  Prereduced = cheating, but at this point I was not willing to wait another year!

 We tend to use the word "magic" in relation to indigo oxidization, but indeed it is really a chemical process when oxygen mixes with the indigo (molecules? gotta learn more about that...)

and here are some results

an exiting part of this dyevat was some yarn which I had dyed last year with goldenrod, now overdyed with indigo and which made a stunning mossy green!

If you want to try your hand at cheating with prereduced indigo yourself, join me in late February. The Fiber Guild of the Savannahs conducts it's "Taste of the Fiber Arts" workshops in January and February.  Here is a link to our Facebook page which includes a pdf download of the signup form.  Workshops are three hours in length and address other arts as well: knitting, using a drop spindle, weaving, saori,  and Dorset button making, to name a few. 

Fair Trade Scarves

I love this drooping elm lace pattern which is a classic lace but the first place I saw it was it was Lankakomero’s blog, for free. Thank you!

I have been experimenting this year with combining a strand of Kidsilk Haze with a strand of Habu Silk Stainless, makes a lovely combination. I have tried to do these filmy scarves and then felt them…so far I haven’t found the right technique for that. However, when I showed some fiber guild friends the basic scarf, my friend Linda loved it.

Now, Linda does beautiful painted silk scarves and I suggested a trade. Linda got a beautiful green scarf and I in return a lovely pink silk poppy scarf...

Bobbin Boy...SAFF part two

Several years ago, I purchased an old 19th century spinning wheel and am working to get it functional. 

Wood and fiber just go together. As the daughter of an antique dealer, I of course find antique items interesting. So while I was at SAFF I was very happy to meet Milissa and Alan of Bobbin Boy, who restore old fiber equipment.  They have an array of videos at their facebook page and some diy tips for old fiber equipment. Here are some photos. Here is Milissa at an old wool wheel. Wish I had one...

An old adjustable skein winder

This lovely barn loom really caught my eye...

Do read this...most touching

Here is a form of clock reel also known as a "weasel" 

Alan will make bobbins for your old wheel...

SAFF 2015 part one

Dear friend J and I had a lovely SAFF weekend...

here are some photos...

first up an enlightening course on making yarns for fractal spinning...Esther Rodgers inspired me to actually try to use my acquired drum carder...

Of course I forgot to bring my wheel. The woman sitting next to me just "happened" to have an extra Kromski in her car...many thanks to Cindy!

Of course, her are some sheepy kisses

Burn Test or...I am still learning to spin or...we pass our fiber knowledge down in ways we would never guess

So in this prior post I described acquiring some unknown fiber (as well as a new wheel and a drum carder...)

Here is a photo of some unknown fiber that was in the acquisition

I really couldn't tell what it was, other than very very soft.  I spun up a bit; if it was wool I felt that it had a lot of short clips in it.  Despite the softness I felt that it would only make a really thick and thin kind of yarn (not my preference). The staple length is very short...2 or 3 inches. My guess was cormo but the short clips/flecks are lighter in color.

Now, this autumn I took on a large task and taught a  course on for Life Long Learning of Hilton Head this fall.  The topic: What We Wore : Home Based Cloth Production Prior to the Industrial Revolution.  Here's a couple photos of me trying to be erudite

(I am hardly a weaver, I'm sure I'm laughing at a blunder, at least two women in the audience were experienced weavers).

In the process of prepping for this lecture I pulled out a stray boat shuttle that I received as part of the acquisition.  

I used to weave a little and always thought that boat shuttles were pretty clever...

and when I got it out I realized what the former owner (who has now passed) had spun the mystery fiber that is on the shuttle

Nice huh?

We pass our fiber knowledge down in ways we would never guess...my lesson: go back and get better at spinning!


So, I decided to do the burn test to analyze the fiber, directions here: 

Yep, burns and smells like wool...that may be the most I'll ever know!