26 June 2007


Lots of our stuff is still in boxes, but the dyeing and spinning equipment is out, and as Himself is away for a fortnight, the house is festooned with dripping roving. I've got hardly any left to dye, but that's perfect timing, as next weekend is Woolfest! (www.woolfest.com) It's still uncertain how I will get there, but any mode of transport should leave me enough money to buy some roving.

The idea of seeing other people spinning at last is extremely exciting. For all I know, I've been doing it all wrong. I am told by email lists that, as in knitting, the thing to remember is that there are no spinning police, but I'm hoping there's a spinning St John's Ambulance, ready to offer advice and assistance in emergencies.

Dyeing is so much fun I tend to get carried away. I'm slowly learning to restrain myself from chucking umpteen contrasting colours onto one small bit of roving, mainly by hissing under my breath It will turn out brown...It will turn out brown...

I've started experimenting with the hot pour method outlined in The Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook, which is much less complicated than the cold pour technique I began with, and results in more interesting transitions between colours. I still get carried away, though - for instance, after spinning up the green single at the top, I needed something to ply it with, so started dyeing a grey/black potful of wool. However, simply adding different concentrations of black dye was too boring, so I ended up with the pink/purple/blue/grey single in the foreground above. Which would look crap against the green, so I had to dye and spin the slightly darker version of the same combination below. I still have that green to deal with, but I can't wait to ply these two together.