Kool-Aid Dyeing and Spinning

I started a spinning group this year as a study group extension of our fibercraft guild.



Bette Bossel at the Drum Carder,
Jessie Hanson at the Spinning wheel
with her daughter helping out.

For our May meeting our plan was to learn how to use a drum carder to create batts. I dyed the fiber with Kool-Aid dyes. This was my first attempt at Kool-Aid dyeing and it turned out a bit whimpy in the color department.

The recipe I found on-line said to mix 1 package of Kool-Aid in 8 ounces of water for every 2 ounces of fiber. The fiber
absorbed all the liquid and clearly need more. I added at least another 8 ounces of water to each of my colors and you can see the results above. And all ages were represented.

Too much fun in my studio!

I recently did a bit of traveling and needed a portable project -- or two (I'll write about the other one real soon).  So I ventured off the handweaving path just a bit. I had no clue what it would be when I started, but I packed my size 11 knitting needles and whipped this up quite quickly. When I returned to my studio, I discovered that the thrums (waste yarn after a piece is cut off the loom) from my Zen Jacket were the perfect fringe along with some blue ribbon I had left from another project. So fun!

 

As always, I was inspired by Blue Heron Yarns handpainted skeins. This one is Rayon Loopy in the Mossy Place colorway.