More dyeing and spinning!

I am getting tired of this winter weather, but at least I am getting lots of playtime with my wool! The more I work with the Texel fleece I got two years ago the more I like it. I originally thought it would only be good for experimenting but as I spin more and more of it I am thinking of trying it for some socks. I would love to use the khaki colour that I got from onion skins in an iron mordant for a sweater but I don't think I will be able to spin enough of it on my drop spindle without losing my mind!

I did a batch of black bean dye. I don't think it is going to be very wash/light fast which is too bad as I got a lovely purplish blue colour from it. I tried small amounts in various mordants and after baths and got everything from a "glacier" blue to a light purple. I spun four different variations of this dye into singles and then made a 4 ply sock weight yarn from it. The finished yarn is very pretty. I still have quite a bit of the purplish stuff left to spin and I will make a 4 ply sock yarn out of it.

This is the finished yarn from that experiment . . .



And the "khaki" colour from the onion skins/iron. These pictures show it much less green than it actually is. I want to get 4 slightly different shades of this colour to ply into a sock weight yarn. If I get my spinning wheel build before I run out of this fleece I might spin a heavier yarn and make a sweater for myself, I just love this colour!

Natural dyeing

I finished spinning all the angora wool I had except for some I am saving. So . . . now what to do? I still have a garbage bag full of fleece from a Texel sheep that was given to me a while ago. It isn't the nicest wool for a finished yarn but I decided to pull some of it out and start experimenting with natural dyes. I dyed some wool years ago using marigolds and it was a lovely yellow. Yellow is pretty much the most common natural dye available. Only problem is I don't really like yellow! It is also the middle of winter so not many plants growing enough to collect material for dying. After a bit of research I decided to try onion skins. The results were amazing and have gotten me really excited to try more and different stuff. The onion skins gave me a really pretty rust colour and a lighter shade of rust. I tried some in my cast iron pot to try and get an olive green bu8t it turned out a duller shade of rust. I did notice that the finished yarn turned green where the wet wool was touching the metal coat hanger that I had it hanging on to dry though! So that coat hanger is soaking in a pot of water awaiting my next batch of onion skins!

I also tried some coffee. I was hoping for a dark brown but got a REALLY pretty almost coppery tan colour. I have just started spinning it and it is lovely. I soaked this batch of wool in a vinegar solution for quite a while and when I started carding the dyed wool I noticed it was MUCH softer than the same wool that I have been using . . . not sure yet if it was the coffee or the vinegar solution that caused it but it is actually soft enough now that I might be able to use it for something other that colour swatches and samplers! A sweater in coffee brown would be perfect.

Lichens are another great source of natural dye that does not need a mordant so I gathered a few tiny bits from my old fence to see what I would get. It turned out a light tan colour that is actually kind of pretty too. I need to do a lot more research and employ the help of my botanist husband to identify the lichens as they all produce something different and some don't dye at all.

I plan to plant a bunch of different dye plants in the front garden this year but until they mature I will be trying stuff that I can find around home and later in the season collect some goldenrod and nettles.

Here is what the onion skins look like (carded wool and spun single). . .



And the finished yarn (2 ply, one was the darker onion skin batch and the other was a lighter shade of onion skin) . . .



the coffee (with some natural coloured wool for comparison). . .



And a sample card I made comparing the different finished yarn colours . . .

Angora stuff

I have had my angora rabbits for about a year and a half now. I have harvested wool from 4 different rabbits - 2 coppers, a chocolate and a red. The red was only a small amount and I no longer have that rabbit so it is just copper and chocolate for the time being. Mocha, the chocolate, has been the best producer as far as volume of wool. Penny has the best sheen and is my favorite colour. I combined most of Penny's wool with some sheep wool last year and got enough to crochet a hat. I have been saving Mocha's wool and started spinning it a few weeks ago. I am not mixing it with anything but I did decide to ply it with a gold thread just to give it a bit of extra kick! I am very happy with the yarn so far. As it is pure angora and a fairly thick yarn I am going to use it in a open, lace-like pattern and make my self a bolero. I just hope I have enough yardage!

I have also collected several gallon sized ziplock bags of odds and ends, less than prime wool that isn't really suitable for spinning but I have been keeping it and plan to try using it for some felting projects though I am not sure yet what that will be!

Here is a picture of some of what my little herd has produced for me so far! The 2 balls are copper and red mixed with equal amounts of sheep wool. It is niceish but the sheep wool I used was coarse and did not do the angora justice! The chocolate skein is about 50 yards of the yarn I am working on for my bolero. I still have quite a bit more to finish. And the hat I made which is the only actual project I have finished using my homegrown wool. I have done a few samplers with some small amounts that I was playing with as I learned to spin but up until now I haven't really had enough volume to make anything.





So . . . in conclusion, I have decided that I need more bunnies. Actually less bunnies in total but more angoras. So I am going to start cutting back on the mini rex herd and increase the number of angora's. I am thinking 2 each of the colours I want to keep which will be chocolate, black, copper and ?? possibly tort or maybe even white (that I could use for dying.) I think the black would be neat for dying as well - it would give a cool effect with the different shades.

I do love these bunnies as urban homestead "livestock." They are relatively cheap to feed, don't take much space, they're friendly and fun for the kids to play with, entertaining and cuddly when I need a pick me up, useful as wool producers AND as great fertilizer producers for the garden!!