Saturday, July 5, 2014

In the dye shed

I've been quiet on here recently but I have been really busy in the real world of my dye shed refiguring the space so I can increase my output with a better system and more useable space. This is going to involve dyeing bigger quantities of yarn in much bigger vats but keeping on with small runs of the variegated yarns. 
I really love to use semi-solid colours that have the 'hand dyed' look about them but are bigger dye lots. The vats need to sit on a small platform on the floor so this involved clearing the limited floor space. I've also turned our tiny office into the yarn storage area. It means the undyed yarn is more orderly and there is less chance of dye contamination. Plus I can do a visual inventory of what I have more easily.
Whilst this all sounds easy to do it has involved clearing hobby stuff that has accumulated over many years. Including letting go of my attachment to many skeins of my own personal stash which I know I'm never going to get around to using and recycling piles of craft magazines. 
I have dyed a few sock yarns on my two days off.
'stipple' 
'Thundercloud'
'Squashed berry'
And 'Wild Rice' are just a few of my repeatable colours.