I took yesterday off work to do a class at the Spinners and Weavers Guild. I finally learnt to use hand cards properly, and learnt about colour theory, by carding up lots of lovely rolags.
Unfortunately one of things I learnt is that hand carding is a slow and painstaking process, and I certainly won't be hand carding for a jumper anytime soon. All of which rather reminded me that I need to get the drum carder out to process the wool for Leon's next jumper. Maybe Sunday I'll dedicate the day to getting that done.
One of my favourite things about doing classes at the Guild is the opportunity to visit the craft supply. I bought another couple of Landscape dye colours, and, when I got home I used Saltmarsh to dye a 240 gram hank of Patonyle. I'm quite happy with how it came out, but, as usual, I learnt some things:
1) The reason the instructions are to dissolve the dye first is because the pigments are different colours and they take where they strike. It took me a while to understand this and I kept looking at the hank, wondering where the bits of yellow came from.
2) I can get away with things on wool / roving that I can't get away with on yarn. There is no more blending and softening on yarn, what you dye is what you get
3) It's not a great idea to stove-top dye on a 35 degree day. It's an even worse idea to go do the ironing while the yarn is steaming.
4) I love Patonyle. It's soft and strong and generally delightful
Now, I'm off to find out how to cook lamb backstrap. I'm not sure what happened, but when I was in the butchers I got flustered and somehow walked away with a cut of lamb that is more expensive than rib eye steak and I have no idea how to cook it.
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