Sewing and Dyeing

I'm playing with dye, encouraged after my day at Toft I bought dyes and yarn and I have been playing. The skein on the right was the first one I did. I 'painted' it in magenta and blue on cling film and then I put it in the microwave. It was a bit hit and miss as I wasn't sure how long to cook it for, when I took it out quite a lot of dye came out of it as I rinsed it, this could have been as there was too much dye or because I didn't cook it long enough. I'm not sure whether to wash it again or over dye with another colour. The skein on the left was dyed with the left overs of the first skein. I love this one, how the colour changes are so subtle, there is a true lavender colour and mixes.

Having done that I got bored waiting for the yarn to dry so I made this knitting bag from a pattern from Emma Garry. The fabric was from the Fent shop in Skipton, the outer is John Lewis and the lining is Liberty. The Fent Shop is fantastic for fabric and notions, all brands, pieces, bolts etc. 12" zips only 50p! I always visit when I go to Skipton, sadly they don't have an online shop so you have to visit. What's not to love about a visit to Skipton I say!

I had a good day creating yesterday, and now I'm off to Derbyshire for the Wensley Yarn Workers Exhibition in Cromford. I'm doing socks! 

I think I may have found my blogging mojo!

Dyeing Yarn at Toft Alpaca

It was really sweet how the mummy alpacas surrounded the babies to keep them safe as we entered their field, they were so close we could hear them humming to each other.

I spent a lovely day learning how to dye yarn, it was a great workshop, Debbie Tomkies was full of information, she showed us several ways of dyeing yarn to achieve different effects. We also made a range of colours using different quantities of dye to see how easy it was to make the colour we wanted.

This was my main effort, hopefully when I've knitted it up into socks it will be striped in the three colours. I'll post pictures of the socks when they are knitted. 

Harriet at Toft Alpaca was the perfect hostess, the lunch was lovely and the piece of carrot cake as huge. I would really recommend workshops at Toft.

I didn't come home empty handed. Not only did I have my dyed yarn, I also bought 500gms of grey alpaca fluff for spinning, its so soft.