This is the turquoise dye from Dori. It is a bit more green in daylight. There is also a lighter shade from a second dyeing when the pot was nearly exhausted.


This batt is made with the light and dark turquoise, with a little black roving from the sheep shed studio and a little silver glitz. It spun up into a pretty yarn. Will post a picture of it when it comes back from the Jamaica Fiber Fest.

This is another view of the same batt. These batts are .75 oz from my narrow Clemes & Clemes drum carder. Last nite at the spinning guild meeting I was able to borrow the Guild carder. It's a standard size Strauch. Sure holds a lot more wool than my little one!

Have been busy for a couple days washing the bale fleece and dyeing some more of it. Also dyed some firestar, some seacell, cotswold locks and a little mohair. The mohair still feels a little gummy to me. Will post more pictures later.

This is the little sample batt spun up. It's 72 yards, about worsted weight. Love how the colors came out, reminds me of iris.

The fleece is Friesan, Dorset and Tunis, I'm thinking crosses.

This is the yellow dye from yesterday. Lovely color!

I did a batt with the purple and the yellow. It's .75 oz, done on my vintage Clemes & Clemes narrow carder. Hope to spin it up tomorrow.

Long time no blog! Have just started a major new project. Bought a 40 lb bale of wool from the Vermont Shepherd to dye and card into batts for spinning. It's quite a fun process, so far. Most of today was spent washing and dyeing a small portion of the fleece.

That's the whole bale. What I did today barely made a dent in it. This wool is really clean, and very little VM. The shearer did a great job, there are few second cuts.

I set up a system of buckets. First I did a cold soak, which cleaned the wool really well. After I let that drain, I did a hot wash, using Dawn. Then there were 2 rinses, and into the dye pot it went.

On the right is in the cold soak.

Nest comes the wash, then 2 rinses.

After the rinses, the wool drains a bit. Next to the dye pot. I am

using some dye I got from Dori from the

Hand Prepared Fibers Yahoo Group.

First was purple. It came out a light purple.

Here is a batt that I made from it, almost

an ounce.

Later will come the other colors.

Got an email with the link to this cute sheep video, and decided to add it to my blog. It's fun to see this again, and the novelty doesn't seem to wear off, either. The border collies are just amazing dogs the way they herd the sheep.

Spring is sprung

The grass is riz

I wonder where

The flowers is

They are in my garden for one place! This is my favorite time of the year, seeing all the flowers coming up and blooming. I find I have a lot of early flowers here. This is a double bloodroot that I got from the Putney Nursery many years ago.

Sad to say that they are no longer in business.

This trillium looks

pretty with a little spray of

pulmonaria next to it. The pulmonarias are happy in my

gardens and have self sown in multiple places around the yard.

Don't remember where this white trillium came from. It took several years to get established and bloom.

Planted asparagus last week. This is an investment in the future, as none will be harvested this year, just a little can be harvested next year, and more the following years. Gives me something to look forward to each spring!

Today I planted snow peas. These are dwarf plants, only 1.5-2 feet tall. Tomorrow I will plant the others, they are taller.

New spinning wheels.
Yep, plural. First came the funky one off eBay, that I thought I could make a treadle easily for and be able to spin art yarn on. Haven't gotten to that, yet. Also need to make a tensioning knob. There's a hole below the flyer to put it in, just have to figure out how to make it.

Then I found a listing on Craig's List for a Great wheel in nearby Colrain at an affordable price. So of course I had to get it. I really don't know what I was thinking, the thing is huge! The wheel itself is 46" in diameter.

I have already spun a little yarn on it. Have to make some rolags, tho. Roving wasn't all that successful. So many projects, so little time!