Bonzo making a meal of my lunch!
can you see the guilty look in his eye? No, think not.

This is a rather rich colection of colours known as 'Quarry Hill' in Cherry Tree Hill Supersock. It is destined to be another shawl............

kettle dyeing

kettle dyeing
Originally uploaded by nigelpcat.

This is fun to do. I had 100g undyed Opal sock wool just sitting and waiting and then one ay the postman delivered a set of 3 Ashford dyes (a rainbow set).
So I found an old, unwanted pan and a few jamjars and 3 sticks for stirring and poking and started. The whole process was very easy, the dye was mixed with hot water and a splosh of white vinegar. The wool was soaked for half an hour and then put in the pan, barely covered in water. Some of the dye was mixed as I started off fancying green, but then got tempted by the red.....The dye was simply poured onto the wool in the pan. Being a bit of a fiddler at the end I dabbed a bit of dye powder into the cauldron as well, which seemed to work well.
Simered the whole lot fot thirty minutes and then removed the wool and let it cool.
By this time the water was clear and all the dye had been absorbed so it only nneded a quick rinse and then it was hung to dry.