Dyeing Day

Onwards to Saturday, the Ceredigion Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers' annual dyeing day.  Again, this was something that I hadn't tried before, but had wanted to since visiting Shilasdair last August.  Some preparation was required, so I'd spent the preceding fortnight spinning up 200g of Bluefaced Leicester yarn (my favourite!), and mordanting it a couple of days before the meeting.  I was really nervous about this as I don't like handling chemicals, but I got my camping stove out into the garden, rubber gloves firmly on hands, and began heating my alum solution.  The wool was dropped in an hour later - another scary moment, as boiling wool is normally something you don't want to be doing - and there it stayed, simmering away for another hour.

Two days later, and it was time to get dyeing.  It's a lengthy process, requiring each natural dye to be simmered for an hour, then strained and reheated before adding the wool for another hour.  I'd separated my wool into 13g skeins, hoping I'd have enough to try each one of the natural dyes on offer, with a couple left over for the acid dyes and indigo.  And so it was.  At the allotted time, our skeins were dropped into the steaming vats and we waited impatiently to see whether the colour had taken.  Everyone had brought different combinations of wools and both alum and tin had been used as mordants, so the range of hues produced from the same solution was astonishing.

Six hours later, and I was returning home with the skeins in the picture, the dyes being (left to right):

logwood

logwood exhaust

blackcurrant (complete with seeds!)

cochineal exhaust

cochineal

madder

dyer's greenweed

horsetail

onion skin exhaust

onion skin

gorse

indigo

acid dyes

I don't know when I'll be trying this again, but I'm certainly not afraid of the process any more.  I'm very taken with the cochineal, logwood and onion skin dyes, and whilst I love the indigo, I know its preparation is a bit more complicated (requiring hydros, caustic soda and careful reduction).

So. Yes. Dyeing. There we have it.  This is what I learned:

• It's nothing to be afraid of, as long as you weigh everything and use the correct percentages of mordant and dye.
• Using natural dyes takes time as you need to make sure the solutions come up to temperature and that you don't shock the wool.  
• Acid dyes are easy to use, as they're set in the microwave, and the results are vibrant.

For more information, I'd certainly recommend The Complete Guide to Natural Dyeing by Eva Lambert and Tracy Kendall (2010).

Weaving for Pleasure

I've wanted to try my hand at weaving for a while, but I've spent the last year concentrating on my spinning and knitting.  When I saw a rigid heddle loom course had been organised during the Wool and Willow Festival I made immediate enquiries, hoping desperately that it hadn't already been booked up.  It hadn't.  I smiled with glee; I really was going to learn how to weave!

The course was being taught by Joanna Kingston of Esgair Fibres.  A quick Google search revealed that I'd bought one of her woven scarves earlier in the year, when I was looking to buy something special for my mother's birthday; I couldn't wait to meet her, as I'd really admired her use of colour and texture.

We were a small group of six, and Joanna soon had us seated at an array of rigid heddle looms - mine was the 32", though I was going to be weaving a scarf of some 7 - 8" across.  Our first task was to choose our warp and weft yarns - no easy task given the delicious selection that Joanna had brought with her.  Initially, I'd considered using some of my own handspun, but as I wanted to learn exactly how weaving works I decided that I'd stick to commercial yarn for this session, and could move on to my own yarn when I'm ready to start experimenting.  In the end I opted for a linen mix for the warp and a variegated red Noro bouclé for the weft, neither of which are too dissimilar from the materials I've been using in my knitting.

Warping the loom took around two hours, but Joanna took us through each stage methodically and calmly, thus reassuring us that this is not something to fear.  The secret to good weaving is good warping.  It's important to take your time.  Knot everything securely.  Check your tension.  Check it again.  If something's slightly off, re-do it - it's worth it in the end.  Unlike knitting, weaving isn't very forgiving if you make a mistake with your warp (and missing one of the slots on the reed is a definite no-no).  Slow down.  Concentrate.  Get into a rhythm.  Enjoy the process.  It's wonderfully meditative when you get into it...

There was just enough time to get going with the actual weaving just before lunch.  I was amazed at how quickly the piece began to grow; when you've been used to fine or relatively complicated knitting, you're resolved to the fact that you're not going to see a finished product for a considerable time.  I was determined to finish by the end of the day, as I really wanted to learn every stage of making a scarf, and wanted something wearable to take home with me.  So it was a case of head down and weave away:

I really couldn't tell you where the afternoon went.  All I know is that those four hours were pure bliss.  Each one of us attempted a different style of scarf, and it was lovely to stop and have a chat to see how each one was coming along.  I also had a wonderful time nattering with Joanna; it's not often that I get a chance to wax lyrical with a fellow yarn addict, so when that opportunity presents itself, there's no stopping me.  I can't help it: I'm obsessed.   She's also very patient and generous with her knowledge.  She knows the pleasure of weaving and wants others to share in that experience - if you ever get the chance to attend one of her workshops, then you really should.

And here it is, the finished article:

I'm ridiculously happy with the end result.  There's always a certain amount of trepidation attached to learning a new craft, but a good teacher will give you encouragement and constructive criticism, leaving you itching to start your next project.  I can't wait. 

(Later on, I found that I'd appeared on the Festival's blog: here's the photo.)

Iceland

I love Etsy. I really do. I love that you can search the site in a multitude of ways and never be quite sure where you're going to end up. This is what happened to me last night. I was mooching around and decided to visit Iceland (as one does), and that's when I found:

Ooh! Lots of lovely wool! I've been informed that Icelandic wool is soft and lovely to work, and, having looked at the colours available, I'm already formulating patterns in my head...

Banwy

I have just found a new yarn supplier, though working out who they actually are has been quite tricky. A couple of weeks ago, I popped into the Deco Shop in Machynlleth in order to buy some new art supplies. That's when I found some lambswool in beautiful muted colours, called Gwlân Banwy Welsh Lambs' Wool - I bought six balls in pink and cream, which I'm working up into a scarf.

Now, it says on the label that Gwlân Banwy is based in Llanfair Caereinion (Powys), but I can find no reference to them on the web. I think that they might actually be Colinette Yarns, and, having just looked at their website, I covet this and this. Sigh. No. Must be strong. Must finish and sell my work in progress first.