To Navajo ply
Yeah, all right, I'm no poet. I can navajo ply however! At least NOW I can.
At first I got off to a rough start. This was not due to the singles I was plying which was lovely copper coloured superwash merino. It was not due to the teaching at all. It was due to my not being able to set up my wheel properly and so I tried to ply about 50 feet in the same direction that my singles was spun in...which meant I got crap.
Which of course I took a picture of because I wouldn't want to miss an opportunity to humiliate myself...
Once the wheel and I started to get along a bit better (mostly because I stopped being a dumbass and it forgave me) I got a reasonable facsimile of a skein and the beginnings of an idea of how to do this. Here it is...
And last of all - the afternoon was spent in a group silk scarf dyeing activity where the entire group (about 80 or so) split into different groups to try different techniques. Chriss and I ended up in the pole wrapping (no, not dancing...) group.
Basically you wind string around your scarf on a piece of PVC pipe with string, push it up tight and then stick it in dye for a bit.
Chriss' ended up better than mine (yes, I have pole wrapping technique regret) but I don't have a picture so mine will have to do...
Purple isn't really my colour and this design feels "old" to me - I was thinking of overdyeing it - ideas are welcome! Just remember that the colour will interact with the purple.
All in all it was a fun day but I am still tired out! I spent the afternoon back with my hands in the dyepot. I also culled some sock yarn that I dyed in the winter and posted it to the shop. I picked up some absolutely amazing mohair from Diane the spinning teacher that is what is left of her own angora goats - about 1600 meters worth so I'll have to figure out what to do with it - its to much for one project but not quite enough for two.
I hope everyone had a great weekend!
5 comments:
Hello, my name is Jenna and I have an Etsy addiction.
Thanks.
A lot.
The navajo plied yarn is really nice - I've done that once and really should try it again. Interesting technique on the scarf...
There's lots you can do that cloth! There's a great book called "Complex Cloth" by Jane Dunnewold that shows you ways to layer dye patterns, printing, discharge, etc. on cloth. It's saved many a cloth dye job for me.
Overdyeing with red will make the white spots red and the purple spots a deep purple or plum colour. Turquoise would be interesting too. The deeper the colour you overdye with, the more subtle the stripe will become.
It was a super fun day. I always like going to a St. Distaff's day.
You can stalk me anytime:)
The Navajo plied yarn looks fantastic! I especially love the technique when different colors are mixed together.
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