Wet, wetter, wettest...

So, today, in between taking the old press apart and loading bits of it into a van to go to its new home, was largely Washing Out, and Washing. Procion dyes need to "batch", ideally for 24 hours, but not more than 72.  I generally just start washing out on the second day by sorting into colour sets (first one was Red, Orange, Yellow) and rinsing madly in running water. On a day as hot as this one, no great hardship, but I did end up soaked all over my front and utterly peeved with rubber gloves..All  of one colour set goes into the washing machine for a Hot Wash. All the threads need to be washed in little net bags - sometimes a skein escapes, at this point I usually chuck it out, as the untangling is silly. So, red wash first,

and out and dry

I won't iron till I'm done, then weigh, pack, lots of stock...
Skeins take a bit longer to dry

Then blue

I left the Green Wash running and came home, having refilled all the pots with yet more fabric and used up All the Dye!

Oh, and here's the wool, all bundled and priced and ready to go...

Tomorrow - More washing, and Indigo!

Yesterday

Was not much to look at. I finished the wool stuff, and that's all being bundled for sale now
Most of what I did looked like this

and this

and this

as I cut up lots of cotton and linen fabrics, soaked all in soda ash and water ready to put into the Procion dyes
Now, Procion is a fibre-reactive dye, and works on cotton, linen, silk, ramie, hemp, rayon. All Plant fibres (yes, I know, silk, but silk is just mysterious and magical, so there... ) Acid dyes, work with Animal fibres, wool, silk, (yes, again!) etc...

What I do is Low Water Immersion Dyeing - I mix up fairly strong dyes with hot water, starting with my three basic colours. Lemon Yellow, Cerise Red, and a good clean blue. From these (and Turquoise, which is hard to make for some reason and makes fabulous purples) I can make almost any colour. Black is almost impossible in Procion, so, I don't...
Then I remix into the squeezy bottles, and put the soaked and wrung-out cloths into pots. I use buckets, ice-cream tubs, big margarine tubs. Big pieces get dyed in washing-up bowls.
The dyes are dribbled and squished into the fabrics. Oh, and each tub today had a skein of thread on top, so double-dyeing..  Rubber gloves are imperative...

Big IKEA jugs with tops, one big tablespoonfull of dye per jug

Dyes ready to use

Six hours later, no more pots..

It's possible to be really quite precise with the colours
All waits overnight, then tomorrow is wet. Rinse, rinse, wash, hang.

Dyeing Day Two

Feet hurt, did lots of walking, washing-out, and microwaving (see, how small my waves are!)
Still have about 1/4 of the wool to do, then on to Procion
!
And all these nice threads need skeining, having been wound into cheeses, then dye, rewind, make little skeins.. I promised myself I was done with this, but I cannot seen to get to the bottom of the box..

I haven't had a "Week Of" for ages

So, Week of Dyes.
The big pile of dyeables was escaping from the underneath of the Big Table, so today I started with Wool. This, of course, needs Acid Dye, and heat...

So, take two old microwave ovens

Lots of old wool blankets, cut up into squares

Which need to be soaked in warm water and vinegar (I use the cheapest brown stuff from Tesco), then wrung out

Mix up the dyes in squeezy bottles (a small funnel is essential) - a little goes a long way

Not forgetting to keep your Rubber Gloves on, of course.. Oooops. Put your fabrics into microwaveable containers (I use old Pyrex mixing bowls) and dribble dye, with extra water if desired
Heat on full, 2 minutes. Wait 2 minutes, heat again, on full, 2 minutes
Rinse well in cold water, hang on the line...
Acid dyes should "exhaust" well - if you use the right amount of dye the run-off water is just about clear. If you have too much, it can be tipped into the next

This was about 1/2 of today's pieces, and there will be lots more tomorrow. Perhaps I'll get the drying racks out, too

I will make these into bundles for sale - nothing stitches quite so well as boiled wool, by hand, no effort required...

Long Time No Cat..

..sitting in the summer-house this morning, sewing a little bunch of hexagons onto a repurposed piece of quilted black linen. Finished, put down on the computer to photo...

So far, so nice. Cat thinks so too

Just the Right Size, methinks...

Now this too, finished today

This is Goth Baby 2. Oakshott cottons, skeletons, drunkards path blocks, baby quilt size.
Free to the right home, you must be a bit Goth..

(ETA, this has been claimed, folks. Watch this space for another soon)

Are You looking At Me?

Over to Heather's house...

...for a nice lunch and a bit of arranging - herewith the February Bee Blocks for her Siblings quilt.. A nice peaceful afternoon with books and coffee

Mushrooms grow in the wierdest places

It's ever so cold

The puddles are frozen

Hard Winter

It's cold, my back hurts, I'm stocktaking, been ill, Oh!, Oh!

Roadkills
Frozen postcard (One of mine! Torn in half!)

Flattened Can

Triffid for tea

And Quite the most appalling lamp
(This is about 3 feet tall)