Oh The Fiber- Welsh Sheep Wool Part 2

It has been an interesting week with me being somewhat layed up. I didn’t get outside much to take pictures but I did get a good amount done while sitting. I got my desk area cleaned up which I was inspired to do by Larissa the assistant editor at Interweave Knits.

I’ve finished my cousin’s daughter’s baby sweater as well. The colors didn’t come out as well on camera.

I also created a self-mannequin from duct tape and an old t-shirt. I’m still in shock at the my body shape.

After I cut the mannequin off my body I hung it on a hanger, stuffed it with polyfil and taped a piece of cardboard to the bottom. Voila! One self-made dress mannequin.

I did card and spin up a bit of the wensleydale fiber as well. The duller blue is the wensleydale, the brighter blue is from when I spun up banana fiber.

The wensleydale fiber dyed up beautifully.

The fiber is absolutely gorgeous. I plan on carding or combing some up to spin by friday.

I finished the parts of my baby sweater just need to block, sew and weave in the ends.

Here is the progress on my sweater just 5 more inches of hip increases, the garter stitch edging and I-cord around the keyhole neck then done.

I finished some more canning this week.

Chelsey and Kenny helping to prepare the peaches for canning.

 About half done with the peaches. There is peach jam on the left and canned peaches on the right.

Here is the cotton/wool blend all spun up.

 I also got a lot done on my sweater.

It looks like I will have plenty of time to knit and spin next week as I took a tumble and dislocated my ankle last night. Hope I heal fast.

I finished my dye jobs. The fiber came out really interesting. The first colorway is the one I did with direct dyes and acid dyes in the same colorway. 

Here is the second in 2 different colorways.

Here is some of the spun fibers from my natural dyeing experiments.

Here is some other lovely fiber that a wonderful friend gifted to me. I think it’s gorgeous.

I decided to try something different this week. I’m dyeing a 50/50 cotton wool blend.

I have  2 oz of this blend to divide up into 1 oz increments. I thought it would be interesting to try direct dyes and acid dyes in the same colorway and then with two different colors to see what it would look like. I bought the fiber from Susan’s Fiber Shop. I actually love Susan’s shop. They carry a variety of knitting and spinning supplies. I go there often to supply myself for part and pieces for my spinning wheels. When I call, usually Susan or one of her wonderful workers answers the phone. They really try to work with you. Their customer service top notch. Shipping is fast too.

Another thing I’m starting this week is spinning all those fibers, that I dyed with the natural dyes.

I’m really excited to see this project come out.

In addition to playing with Yak fiber this week. I tried another natural dyeing project as well. I picked some Queen Anne’s Lace and steeped it on low for 2 hours.

I mordanted some superwash wool in alum and cream of tarter for 90 minutes. Then I dyed the wool. Here is what happened.

                                             It came out a lovely yellow green color.

I also did some more canning this week. I had been given a bunch of pears. So many in fact I had to freeze some as our fridge was full. I made canned pears and pear butter(similar to apple butter but made with pears of course).

I also finished my Kerchief project. It came out a bit heavier than I thought but will be great as I wear hats even in the house during the winter.

The animals are loving their new fan in the barn.

Sorry for the late post internet issues kept me from posting yesterday.

I’ve spend the last couple weeks working with natural dyes. As I was doing this I was also amassing some of the local produce for my seasonal canning.

First to the dyeing project the beets and plums produced some interesting colors.

beet juice dyebath

Plum dyebath

beet juice dyed on top , plum skins on bottom

I used the plum pulp for some delicious plum jam. I also made strawberry jam and some homemade BBQ sauce (my son has been begging for). I couldn’t let my 8 grapefruit or the small quantity of peppers go to waste so I canned that up as well.

strawberry jam

BBQ sauce

grapefruit

Pepper jam turned upside down to distribute the peppers evenly.

I was feeling rather energetic and had about 4 dozen eggs from the chickens so I also made some pickled red beet eggs. Yum!

Pickled red beet eggs

I also started combing the gorgeous fleece I picked up at Fiber Frolic in June.  I usually comb it twice to get really nice top.

scoured fleece

1st combing

Here is a pic of all my efforts this week. I’m kinda proud of it.

I was feeling inspired after last weeks success with natural dyes. So I decided to embark on a project after getting so many plums last week. As I processed them to freeze for jam later. I realized the skins had a lot of color. I simmered them for about 3o minutes till all the color was gone from them. Then I strained the resulting liquid twice once thru a metal sieve and then thru an old, clean towel to make sure all the pulp was gone. I am mordanting 2 oz of fiber. One for the plum color and another for some beet juice(it’s been decided we are having beets for dinner).

I’ve not been able to take many pictures or do a whole lot the last week as it was a week of running and preparing for my daughter to go to camp this week. I am also awaiting some new fiber samples to share with you.

Here are my boys enjoying some grass on this warm, but windy summer day.

We got the alpacas sheared and wow what a difference! I forgot how tiny they really are. The amount of fiber was amazing.

Romeo also had some dental work done. He looks so handsome now.

In other news we went to the strawberry farm and did some picking for jam. I was also able to get my hands on some plums, also for jam as plum jam is my favorite.

Chelsey is hulling the strawberries for me. I’ll freeze them until I have time to process them next week.

I started a new project. I never knitted with beads before so I thought I would give it a shot. It will be a nice kerchief when it’s done.