I mentioned in the fractal colourway post that some of my dyes are behaving strangely.  They are setting properly, it’s just that I can’t see the colour properly until they are cooked.  I thought I’d use them up on something that isn’t repeatable anyway.  I need fibre for spindle kits and yarn for the next Intro to Rigid Heddle weaving course, so I thought I’d have a dump and pray session.  Normally, I obsessively measure everything – “dump and pray” takes me rather out of my comfort zone, but it’s good for me, as I usually learn something.  I’m also learning to photograph as I go along, so I thought I’d share what happened:

Green pan before cooking

Green pan after cooking

Just a little different, eh?  The blue deigned to show up only after heating.  It’s lovely and I’m happy with it, it just wasn’t wysiwyg (those old enough will remember the joy of wysiwyg when it became a feature of WordStar – the youngins among you may not remember a time before “what you see is what you get”).

The same happened with the red in the purple pan:

Purple pan before cooking

Purple pan after cooking

A little note on method:

I put just enough warm water in the pans to cover the fibre.  In this case, there are 2 50g skeins of corridale roving and 2 113g skeins of Brigg’s and Little Regal yarn.  I put 5mL of citric acid crystal per 100g of fibre in the water and stir.  Then I add the fibre and let it soak while I fret over which dyes to use.  When I’ve psyched myself up I start dumping dye on the fibre in whatever pattern appeals to me.  I almost always only use 2 primary colours – that way I can’t end up with mud no matter what happens.  If I want a greyed colour I will add the 3rd primary in such a way that it blends thoroughly.  I poke at the fibre to make the colours mix together.  When I’m happy with what I’ve got I put the pans in the oven and turn it on to 325degF.  When it reaches temperature I turn it back to 210degF for about an hour.  Then I check to see that the dye has exhausted.  If it has I turn off the oven and leave everything to cool for as long as I can stand.  Just for you, I left them overnight this time so that I could take the “after” pictures.  Then I rinse with warm water and spin out in the washer.  My front loader works fine for this, I’m not sure where they got the bad rep.  The skeins look a little scary when they come out, but they are a lot drier.

I just find the tie point, sort things out there and then give the skein a good snap, whereupon it usually untangles nicely.

These will weave into really nice random plaids, interesting even in plain weave. I find the fibre also fluffs up nicely when given a spin dry, which means smoother drafting when spinning.

In other news Thing Small went to the allergist today.  She has had food and environmental allergies and asthma since she was little, all of which have been gradually lessening as she has grown.  We did a “milk challenge” today with milk baked into a muffin.  No reaction.  This will make her life SO much easier and I’ll worry a lot less.  She has never had a really severe reaction, but it’s always possible, so knowing that this is better is a big relief.  Also lots less hassle when she goes out.  She still can’t have cheese, yogurt and fluid milk, but, since she’s never had them anyway it’s not a big deal.  Maybe next time she’ll be able to tolerate those.  He also said he thinks the asthma is gone.  Small blessings sometimes feel big.  Quite the Christmas present.

Several of my friends have been pestering me to start blogging for quite some time now.  In particular, Christine, and Heather want to see me blog, but for different reasons.  Heather was kind enough to include my fibre in the December “Canadian Fibre Box”, but that meant finding a place on the web for people to find me in case they like it and want more.  The final straw was Heidi, who, almost immediately on meeting her, first asked “Do you have a blog?” and then said “Since you don’t, I will build one for you”.  All I have to do is teach Heidi how to play with fibre (and I would have done that anyway (shh, don’t tell her that)).

So, here I am and I feel I ought to introduce myself:

My name is Elizabeth and I am a fibre pusher.  Also an unrepentant fibre addict.  I knit, spin, dye, weave and generally make mischief with fibres.  I teach all these things at the Ottawa Valley Weavers and Spinners Guild.  I’m also a wife, mother of 2, an SLP (Speech/Language Pathologist), a choir member, a bread baker and a whole lot of other things you’ll no doubt hear about along the way.  Himself is currently an engineer, but is getting ready to make a big career change into a food related business.  At present the plan is to open a butcher shop, take the Grand Diplome at the Cordon Bleu and then open a restaurant.  Thing Tall, our 14 year old boy, is in grade 9.  He plays electric bass and video games, thankfully he has recently discovered the joy of snow shoveling for fun and profit.  Thing Small, our 11 year old girl, is in grade 6.  She is a social butterfly who loves being active.  Rags, our standard poodle, shares her time between our house and my parents’ (Nana and Grinch) house up the street.  A betta fish (Cookie) and a mystery snail (Speedi GonSnailez) round out the menagerie.

This blog will be about my adventures in fibre, food, family and friends.  This next year will be nothing if not eventful, thanks for coming along for the ride.