Monday, June 2, 2008

Late Night

I was up far too late last night, playing with chemicals...

So now I'm imbibing too many chemicals of a different kind (caffeine, baby, and the possibility of some extreme sugary yumminess from Fat Daddy/Bangerang Bake Shop) to stay awake...

The oranges/peaches/yellows on the left is sure to appeal to my Mum. :)

Isn't dying fun, though? These are just some sample skeins of tencel and bamboo yarn, using MX Dyes from Procion. Easy to use, it's all done a room temperature, and tencel and bamboo both take dye really nicely. The bamboo yarns are a bit lighter, it's interesting, the tencel sucks up the color a bit more intensely. So much fun to get back into this! It's been a while (since before I got pregnant with the Little Man), I had to relearn it a bit, but it's easy and fun, appeals to my nerdly sciencey side to be measuring and mixing in buckets...

Can't wait for it to dry enough to get it on my looms!

4 comments:

Niki said...

Hi there Kristen, found your blog through a close friend of mine, Shawn O'Hagan- Island Sweet. What caught my eye was how much we seem to have in common...stay at home Mama with simular aged babes, fiber art, skiing... anyway your work is great, and I'd love to know your recipe so to speak,as to how you manage to keep a balance between being a Mama, and your passion for weaving and all? Have a grateful day and happy dyeing
Niki

Anonymous said...

I didn't know you dyed your own yarns to use in your weaving. When did you start? Why did you start?

skiingweaver said...

Hello Niki! I'm going to have to trot over to your blog, we sound like kindred spirits. :) Your comment has really made me think - I think I'm going to write a post about being a Mama/working/playing/life balance. (Though, the short answer is - I completely wing it! LOL)

Marie - hi there! I've messed about with dying before, but had to stop when I was pregnant/nursing... Mostly I do it just because it helps get color theory into my head a little better and also because I'm forever looking for shades I can't find from commercial sources! I think only one thing in my shop right now has hand-dyed yarn in it; although, obviously, I'm planning more projects along those lines. :)

Alpaca Granny said...

These skeins look beautiful, Kristin. Anxious to see them woven up. They will be lovely as all your work is.