Pockets of colour

Autumn is underway.  Misty mornings - cooler temperatures - wood burner - jumpers and boots -  casseroles and stews (yum)..... but still in the garden there are pockets of colour......... and weeds and nettles. I need to get outside and have a good tidy up, but procrastination is my best friend

Getting leggy but still pretty.  The basil is suffering now with the lower temperatures

So sour!!

How pretty does my yarn look wound up.  I am itching to get started on it, but I must finish the projects currently on the needles

To Dye For

Yesterday I had such a good day.  Pauline & I attended a Dye Workshop given by Clare of Boo's Attic fame.  What fun, this really was more me than the spinning.  More like cooking and I felt more or less in control of what I was doing.

Firstly, I dyed a skein of sock yarn - which was a Super wash wool and nylon mix.  These are the colours I went for

and this is what I got - wow!

I then followed up after lunch dyeing my skein of Black Hills Boucle Chunky which is 70% wool and 30% mohair.  It was interesting to see the difference in take up of yarn.  With the super wash there was no surplus dye in the rinsing water, but with the Boucle; I nearly had a heart attack when I took it out of the steamer and saw a huge purple mess, so much dye, not sure how much water I used to rinse this but the end result is very subtle. I wished there had been more green and the orange is more of less lost, but the overall result is very organic looking. 

This yarn I plan to make into a cowl or a short scarf - there is only 150 grams and so not really much else I can do with it, especially as I'm not a hat person

The super wash sock yarn 100grams/400 meters - so there is enough for a shawlette.

Can't wait for the yarns to dry so I can wind them up and see how they look. A big thank you to Clare for a great day out