Dyed in the wool

Yesterday I got to play hooky from the open air market and went to a dyeing workshop with our local fibre arts group. What a great day !

We used Ciba dyes.

Here is some of the yarn we used in the dyepot. We turned the centre pull balls over and used a different colour for a variegated effect.

Here is the yarn I brought home.

The colours are all really bright and lovely. My favourite, though, is the darker one here. I couldn't make those colours again I don't think. We dropped the dyes onto the skeins of yarn in the dyepot which gave a more diffuse effect because it cooked on the stove top and the colours mixed together.

I'm looking forward to making something with the pretty yarns I brought home.

At the moment I am making a little basket for my Mum with this skein of hand spun (Cashew, our Babydoll/Romney cross), dyed with food colouring as a batt then spun up to get more heathery shades. Hopefully, I will post a pic in the near future when it's finished !

Incidentally, this is the definition I found, when I looked up this well known phrase.

"dyed-in-the-wool"
adj : dyed before being spun or woven into cloth.

Well, I guess that makes sense !