Setbacks

A few weeks ago, I wrote a dyeing tutorial, and I mentioned what I would do if my washing machine broke. I hesitated before writing that because it's kind of dangerous for me to say things like that. The washing machine did break, and also the well on our property blew out a pump, so we were without water for awhile.

So, I was unable to get much dyeing done. I did manage a couple of skeins here and there like the ones pictured above by rolling my wetted yarn in towels before dyeing to remove excess water. Though, I knew there might be some drawbacks.

Here's a swatch of yarn I dyed:

Colors are fairly bright, but look what happened when I started felting my slippers. Some mellowing of color does occur through the repeated washings necessary for the fulling process, but my blue faded so much and more on one slipper.

Luckily, these aren't so bad.

The reason I like to spin my wool out before dyeing is so the dye can penetrate evenly. I guess there were still some heavily wetted spots that wouldn't allow the dye take up I desired.

I did buy an extractor, sometimes called a spin dryer, and it arrived today. I'm delighted. It seems it will be good for spinning out my hand washables as well.

All of this set me back in my preparations for the studio tour that's in less than two weeks! I'll be busy, but will take it in stride.