Dyeing in the kitchen...
... when I was in my late teens, and away from home at university, I was reasonably good about phoning home. So why did my mother torture me one time by coolly announcing that my father was “dyeing in the garage”? (It kind of loses something when you read it – that ‘e’ is silent on the phone – and it’s a very important ‘e’.) As it turned out he was dyeing silks for leno weaving – a hobby that led in time to him making this stole for my wedding day:
But that’s a photo of a photo and doesn’t do it justice, and I’m digressing massively…
... Back to the plot…
Today I was dyeing in the kitchen. But not in my own kitchen. Liz very generously offered to teach a bunch of us from KTog how to do acid dyeing. Being an idiot I forgot my camera, but others were better organised. Being an awkward soul, rather than using pre-spun yarn, I took a bundle of shetland tops from Bluefaced (from which it feels as though I’m buying locally as they’re in the town where my parents live, but since that’s the other side of the country isn’t local at all really… ). But I do have a camera at home, so I can proudly present my first attempt at dyeing fibre:
The green bits seem to be getting bluer and bluer as it dries out, which is a little odd, but I still love it, and can’t wait to get it spun up. It has felted a very little, but it’s going to be fine. So a big big THANK YOU to Liz.
And I still belatedly owe a big THANK YOU to Rosie my birthday present. Apparently she thought of me when she saw this:
And some bizarreness. DHL tried to deliver a parcel on Thursday when I was out – it was a mad day what with a dentist’s appointment for Adam and a hair appointment for Ruth (she’s had her first ever hair cut, and yes, I’ve kept a bit… – I’m soppy, I don’t care!) They redelivered on Friday, and it was a complimentary copy of the Knitting Pattern-A-Day Calendar, with my pattern on 28th Jan. Whoo Hoo! I’m published!! (Except that I don’t remember them telling me that they were going to use it – I know I’m in the Stitch’n’Bitch 2008 Calendar (linking to KnitPicks because they refer to “lots of hip, edgy patterns” – hip and edgy, that’s me 
) – but I explicitly told Debbie Stoller before she accepted my pattern that it had already been self-published on my blog, so it was already in the public domain, and that was fine. So that’s alright!
four comments:
That IS an important “e”! Isn’t dyeing fun?! I was supposed to be dyeing with friends today, but all of us are a bit under the weather, so we’ll try again in 2 weeks.Chris () (link) - 08 July '07 - 00:19
How fun! I’ve done some dyeing of yarn before(with kool-aid) but never fiber. I can’t wait to see how it spins up!jessica () (link) - 08 July '07 - 04:47
Oh wow, I’m going to have to move to Cambridge, you seem to do loads of fun things there! And it’s obviously a very hip and edgy place…Daisy () (link) - 08 July '07 - 21:08
This is all very exciting! I would like a copy of that there calendar.And I remember that beautiful stole on your wedding day.
I’d love to see picture of Ruth’s new hair!
Big Ruth () - 08 July '07 - 22:08
