~*Start Looking for Pickle Jars!*~

Hello Dear Friends! Happy Friday to ya! Today is gonna be a fun, full day! It is 1st Grade Party Day! I'm so excited... and hope Trinity is too. We will be potting petunias, face painting, and eating some yummy treats! The weather is going to be spectacular ~ in the mid 80s ~ and it is sure to be GREAT!

I wanted to pop on to share this blog link with you... Christy at Double M Sheep and Wool has posted a fun dye technique on her blog. Kinda like Sun Tea... but it is for Sun~Dyeing Wool! I need to start searching those garage sales for large pickle jars now!

Wishing you all warm smiles,

Betty

~*A Day in the Dye Pots*~

Hello Dear Friends! For those of you that offered help, suggestions, and guidance regarding my wool question the other day... thank you! I spent a good part of the day in the kitchen playing with wool ~ or as my boys say, "cooking fabric". Here are some pictures of my results... (I put a small piece of 'before wool' over the 'after wool' to show how it changed.)

I don't have very much Cushing's Dye, but I did have enough to try Khaki Drab. For this batch... I used 1 tsp. Khaki Drab and 1/2 tsp. Med. Brown to dye about 1 pound of wool.


This batch was about 1/2 pound of wool. I used PRO Chem Washfast Acid Dye. 1/2 tsp. 503 Brown and 1/8 tsp. 672 Jet Black


This was also dyed in the PRO Chem recipe from above...


For this one, I tried to dye with the color compliment of the dominant color in the wool. I saw more Navy Blue than any other color... so I used orange. I added 1/2 tsp. Orange 233 directly to the dye pot with about 1/2 yard wool. It changed more than the photo is showing... much more drab. I think it would make a fun border wool.


I also tried to do some 'changes' without adding any commercial dye. For this one, I 'stewed' about 1 pound of wool in 1 Tb. Tide for about an hour. I am very excited how this one changed! It was so bright red and green before!


My friend Cyndi is selling these sweet little notebooks. I purchased one from her the other day & was so proud of myself for taking notes AND adding samples of what I used and finished with. So, maybe the next time I get the pots & dye out... I can keep up my Dye Journalling!


All in all... it was a FUN time & I feel I really learned a lot and, more importantly, gained confidence to do it again!

Many warm smiles to you...
Betty

My mind is twirling with creative thoughts....

Where to begin??? Hummm, what fun it is to ponder and oodle of hooking, punching, and stitching.... and wool dyeing. I have all this free time during the day and a million and one directions I want to take. As many of you know, I am in some wonderful Ebay groups. Two of them have a launch set for September 1st (BLESTB and AB4B). My Mom has a birthday soon too. Now, I have the joy of coming up with some things to offer with the groups and something special to make my dear ol' Mom. (that was ol' not old..... just in case she sees this! LOL) So, for the next few weeks I will get to play with threads and wool....... what will come of it? Only time will tell. Here is a rug that I did manage to finish yesterday. It might make its way to Ebay soon, but it will be nice to live with it ~ for just a few days anyway.



I am proud of myself.... most of the wool used for this one I dyed myself. :)

Trinity's 1st Dentist visit!

Today Trinity went to the dentist for the very first time! This is my little boy.... who is growing up too fast! He is 4 almost 5 and about to start kindergarten. (school starts this Thursday!) He was so good for his visit today ~ and luckily no cavities!! He was all smiles for the rest of the day.... well, truth be told, he is usually all smiles anyway. Here he is showing off his pearly whites.....



I did have a chance to dye some of the wool from the auction today. Now, don't laugh at my results! :) I am still learning about this whole dye thing. The books I have read discuss dyeing all these different swatches with different quantities of dye. Well, I am very unorganized and more of a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants type of gal. I know that I could never get the same color twice if I tried.... but I do love to see what stirs up in the dye pot! Two of the batches I did today, I had forgotten to add the vinegar until the dye bath had been dumped out. Oops! I put the wool back in the pot with more water & the vinegar to simmer some more. What came out was this really cool sort of tie-dyed type of wool. Of course, I don't know what rug any of this wool will be used in ~ but it is great fun to see what happens!





In the next few days I will have a rug & some other hand-dids to show off....... just have to get a little extra time to do some finishing on them. :) Until next time..... many smiles to you!!!!!!

You just gotta love a good ol' auction!

I hit the jackpot yesterday at a local auction. The sale bid advertised some handmade wool rugs..... so, of course, I had to go see. They turned out to be large, latch hooked area rugs..... not exactly what I had in mind. BUT, to my delight.... there were two boxes of wool yardage grouped in the bed linen area. I stayed at the auction for hours waiting for my chance to nab these! I just knew I had to have them. The colors might not be perfect ~ but that is what dye if for! I was able to grab these boxes for pennies on the dollar ~ where wool is involved anyway. I was so stoked about it too. So, I ran home & threw them in the wash & hung them on the line to dry. Afterwards, I weighed them.... these is almost 10 pounds of wool here. Yes, I am just tickled-pink about my find!!!



You know, while waiting for these two boxes of woolly delights ~ I had to bid on a few other things too. I came home with a hand crocheted table cloth & some darling cross-stitched ornies (one for every month). I am looking forward to next weekend for another auction!!! :)