Today was mix everything up for the next week day. I only had tiny amounts of stock solutions left in three colors – red, green, ivory. Seeing as how Christmas was over a week ago… hehe. Time to mix all them dyes again!

So down come the dyes, out come the dye solution containers and measuring spoons… and in come the Yarn Babies! (They like to help.) I have just one dust mask, so they get to fill the containers with water while I measure the dye powders to put in the water-filled containers. It goes quickly, and the kiddos have a grand old time. One of my powders runs out before the solution is the concentration I like, but that’s the worst thing that happens. Unless you look at the counters where I’ve been working!

What can I say? Art is messy! The most interesting counter art of all the dyes to me was the Jet Black dye blob:

Orange, blue, yellow, turquoise! I can’t help but love the way those colors look together. What do you think?

Where I Actually Dye Yarn

Once all the dye mixing was finished up, the actual dyeing began. But not in earnest. Just bit by bit, one slow batch at a time. Since this is the last step of dyeing for the sock yarns, it pays to go slowly, to make sure the color turns out just right. So far, so good, but the true test is tomorrow when they come out of their dye baths! Cross your fingers, they look great so far!

What all this means is that two colors of sock yarn are in the final dye stage, with three hanks of each color. I’d do more, but unfortunately, I’m out of citric acid until Wednesday, Jan 2nd , 2008 (!!) if UPS is right. I tried to talk myself into using vinegar again, but I just couldn’t do it. The citric acid works so much better, with so much less work… and no smell! There is no going back for this dyer!

Do Mordants Keep?

Ok, question for you guys… how long does a fully dissolved soda ash solution keep, if at all? It’d be nice to get all my mixing done at the same time, instead of having to mix the mordants every single time I go to dye. (I mix the mordants separately from the dyes on an as needed basis right now.) Wishful thinking on my part? Probably. But a girl can dream!

Socks… or Not.

No progress on the socks. I am such a Bad Knitter! I blame the sudden, very strong, urge to learn to felt for the total lack of progress. Luckily I have absolutely zero feltable roving or top or loose fiber in the house, otherwise I just might have disappeared clear until February! It just looks like so much fun… putting different colors of fibers in different arrangements that, after much abuse, come out as a pretty solid… something. But it’s a pretty fiber something, which makes it all good by me! Yikes… fiber intervention time much?