Mail!

Isn't getting packages in the mail the best?!

I've been getting alot of them this week. Kasha's Knits will be a vendor at Handcrafted (in the Hills) Fiber Festival in Rapid City, SD April 26th-28th, so I've been getting busy dyeing!

First in the mail, some new bases to dye! I've been dyeing yarn again, so we're now stocking BFL Silk laceweight and BFL Sock (with nylon). I also got a variety of wool tops, including some Merino/Bamboo and Merino/Tencel blends, superwash BFL, polwarth, and some longer staple wools such as Wensleydale and Masham.

This is what I dyed up yesterday! The semi solid lace weights and the variegated sock skeins are repeatable colorways.

I also got my package from fabric.com with this adorable combination. My best friend from high school is a major music buff and is having a baby. He's having a boy, so this music themed fabric had the perfect color scheme to coordinate with some solids for a faux chenille baby blanket. Can't wait to get started on this!

Samplings

I've been dyeing up a storm of 1 gram sample colors. In the last year I've been gradually switching from premixed dye colors to mixing my own from primaries, shooting for an ultimate goal of being able to create repeatable colorways.

I wrote down every possible 2 color combination of my primaries and set to work making samples of those combinations in different concentrations. All of these were dyed at a 1% depth of shade, so they are very clear, bright and cheery colors. I plan on redoing all of these at a 0.5% or 0.2% depth of shade to get a good range of light and pastels as well, since some colors can change drastically when the depth of shade is reduced.

I'm currently working through some 3 color combinations, which are much more muted and subtle colors.

 I just submitted our application to vend at HandCrafted (in the Hills) Fiber Festival April 26th-28th at the Grand Gateway Hotel in Rapid City, SD. I was born and raised in the Black Hills, and I'm thrilled that I have the opportunity to be a part of a fiber show happening there.

A very large order of yarn and roving are on their way to me right now and I'm ready to get the dye pots cooking!

!!!

This stuff is so gorgeous!

For real. I think I could braid this and dye it just like commercially prepped top. It is sooo soft and squooshy, and it isn't as airy and delicate as you might expect most hand combed top to be.

I think I have to spin this right now.

I haz wool.

Lots of wool...


27 pounds of it, to be exact. This is one garbage bag full - I have three more in my laundry room.
My dad found this lovely raw merino wool from a local source in Belle Fourche, SD. I'm so excited to start combing this stuff, it is super super soft!

I started washing it as soon as I could when we got home from SD, I couldn't help it! I pulled off big chunks of the fleece and layered them in a mesh laundry bag...

 

 Then I let my washing machine fill up with hot water, adding some dish soap and a few big glugs of ammonia. I leave the lid of the machine open so the agitate cycle won't run, and let the whole bag soak for a half hour or so. Then set the machine to spin cycle only and let the water spin out. I had to repeat the ammonia wash twice, then a rinse cycle with a glug of vinegar to balance out the ammonia.

It's on it's last rinse cycle now. Then I'll spin the water out one last time and lay the whole thing out on a towel with a nearby fan overnight to dry.

 I did a small test batch in the sink earlier, and the washed locks are gorgeous. Soft and clean!