I'm back...

These are the fruits of the last 2 weekends. The smaller group were dyed at my friend Joan's place in Leschenault, Western Australia and the larger group were dyed with the help of Joan Lock at a retreat in Dwellingup, WA. Both were using up old Procion dyes on cotton and now I think I might have to buy some dyes to do some more experiments of my own. Wonder how long it will be before I am offering them to some unsuspecting person saying "they're old dyes and we can have a bit of a play, they may work, they may not" :-)

Both sessions were great fun. The smaller batch were done without bags and we managed to create an almighty mess between myself, Joan and my 10 year old friend Andrea. We also didn't realise we should have added salt to the Soda Ash soak. The larger batch were done by putting a little dye concentrate in a bag, adding the yarn (was supposed to be a piece of fabric but I had yarn) then adding enough soda ash and salt solution to wet it all, another tablespoon or so of dye concentrate in another colour, squishing a bit and then leaving for 24 hours. This was decidedly less messy :-)

Now I need to spend some time looking at dyeing websites for ideas, recipes and supplies. I am currently reading Complex Cloth by Jane Dunnewold - awesome book. This copy is from the libary - it looks like a "must have". Uh oh, I think I am hooked.