Exhausting Dye Day
Ok, so there are only so many good dye days in the winter since I have to work outside. Yesterday was one of them but I had less than 2 hours sleep the night before so I knew I couldn't tackle dyeing - did research on a guild program I need to give in May instead. So, today was it - the rains and cooler weather return tomorrow. Of course it was below freezing first thing this morning so I had to wait until mid-morning to set up. That and clean-up are the worst part - need to cart everything out, set up tables, mix dye stock that I'm low on, get the steamers going, etc. So, I set off to dye almost 20 pounds of superwash merino. Well, maybe 20 pounds is a bit ambitious when not starting at 8am like I do in the summer. Sam called around 5pm on his way home from golf asking if I needed anything from the store - I cried that I desperately needed help - still had several more lengths of roving to dye and I was far behind on getting roving that had come out of the steamers rinsed and hung - it was laying all over the driveway on the plastic it was wrapped in while steaming. I needed an extra set of hands if I wasn't going to still be out there in the dark. He got home carrying a bag of sushi for dinner and set to work. As I was still pulling roving out the steamer and rinsing other roving he was washing out all my dye squirt bottles, measuring utensils, etc. He put away tables, put away dyes and even coiled up that hose when we were done, a job I hate doing. As it was we didn't get in the house until after 7pm. He's the hero of the day. So here are the fruits of my labor - the earliest out of the steamer had dried quite a bit but it's going to take a while for it all to dry. The drying racks are in the garage now, as soon as they aren't dripping anymore they'll get moved in the house where there's heat.
Ok, so there are only so many good dye days in the winter since I have to work outside. Yesterday was one of them but I had less than 2 hours sleep the night before so I knew I couldn't tackle dyeing - did research on a guild program I need to give in May instead. So, today was it - the rains and cooler weather return tomorrow. Of course it was below freezing first thing this morning so I had to wait until mid-morning to set up. That and clean-up are the worst part - need to cart everything out, set up tables, mix dye stock that I'm low on, get the steamers going, etc. So, I set off to dye almost 20 pounds of superwash merino. Well, maybe 20 pounds is a bit ambitious when not starting at 8am like I do in the summer. Sam called around 5pm on his way home from golf asking if I needed anything from the store - I cried that I desperately needed help - still had several more lengths of roving to dye and I was far behind on getting roving that had come out of the steamers rinsed and hung - it was laying all over the driveway on the plastic it was wrapped in while steaming. I needed an extra set of hands if I wasn't going to still be out there in the dark. He got home carrying a bag of sushi for dinner and set to work. As I was still pulling roving out the steamer and rinsing other roving he was washing out all my dye squirt bottles, measuring utensils, etc. He put away tables, put away dyes and even coiled up that hose when we were done, a job I hate doing. As it was we didn't get in the house until after 7pm. He's the hero of the day. So here are the fruits of my labor - the earliest out of the steamer had dried quite a bit but it's going to take a while for it all to dry. The drying racks are in the garage now, as soon as they aren't dripping anymore they'll get moved in the house where there's heat. 