Sometimes projects just take on a life of their own. Even projects that you never intended to have.

Early this summer, someone in the spinning group was giving out indigo plants. I was tempted, but I was good and resisted the urge to take on a load of free dye material. After all, I didn’t have the garden space, the equipment for natural dyeing (which takes quite a few more chemicals and supplies than acid dyes), or really the time to get into a long and involved dyeing process. I was very good, and I walked away.

Last Monday, someone who had taken on some of the plants came to spinning group, and told us how she really, really wanted to dye with them but things were crazy and she was busy and is getting ready to leave for a two week trip to Italy. She couldn’t use the plants, and would someone please come get them so that they don’t go to waste?

This is October. In Wisconsin. Indigo is frost sensitive. (Insert time crunch here.)

I was busy this past weekend because Branden was home, and so we decided that we would cross our fingers that the frost would hold off and then maybe I’d make it down there to pick the plants this coming weekend so that they wouldn’t go to waste.

Last Thursday night, she called again. They were due for a hard frost on Friday.

I talked to Branden, and we did some last-minute shuffling of plans so that we could end up kinda sorta close to her house to pick some indigo. (My husband is terribly intolerant of my fibery pursuits, isn’t he? He even helped pick….)

By the time we got home, Branden was ready for a nap anyway, since he’d gotten up at something like 4 am. While he was sleeping, I collected all the leaves:

I froze a few ounces, dried a bunch of stems by hanging them upside down, and then put the rest in my dye pot for stewing. I figured it was best to hedge my bets.

I should say at this point that I have not yet found a single recipe that takes me every step of the way through this rather complicated process. There are hundreds of recipes out there, and they either start from a commercial powder (probably the sensible thing to do), or they use the fresh leaves immediately for dyeing. The latter method says that the leaves have to be used within 20 minutes of being picked, and it took more than 40 just for us to get home. I wasn’t willing to spend the entire day dyeing, so I made a very predictable move and decided to just wing it. Recipe? Who needs one? It’s only a fermentation vat, right??

I started out by stewing the leaves at 160 degrees for about 2 hours. There was one heart attack moment when the lower pan in the double boiler made it to boiling temperatures because my thermometer was misreading, but thankfully we caught it in time and managed to avoid overheating the plants.

By the end of the heating, I had a very dark tea-like liquid with a scummy layer on top, which I take to be a very good sign. (Indigo should have a layer of insoluble dye at the surface of the water, because it is easily oxidized into an insoluble form by the air. Or so I’ve heard.)

This is the part where it became off the cuff. I got some washing soda, because that’s what a lot of people use to make the dye solution basic, and because it sounded a heck of a lot better than liquid ammonia or fermented urine. Turns out you can buy washing soda in the pool supply section of the hardware store. Who knew?

I didn’t really measure how much base I put in, and I didn’t really measure the pH. I should have, but I didn’t want to waste time digging around for pH strips. In all, I probably added about a cup and a half. The amount that I need would vary depending on the amount of water and the amount of dyestuff, and I don’t really have good numbers for either. I started out with about 6 oz of leaves, but there’s no telling how much dye is actually in them. So, I added what felt right.

The next bit is the part I’m not really sure about. Indigo has to be reduced back into its soluble form, and the way to do that is to remove all oxygen from the water. This is usually done using microbes (see fermented urine, above). I wasn’t ready to count on bacteria having survived my heat bath, so I followed one recipe that suggested using yeast and a little wheat bran. I didn’t have wheat bran, so I used rice flour. It’s just there to help keep the yeasties happy, so presumably anything starch based will do. I didn’t know that yeast could survive at such low pH, but apparently it can. Or so the internet claims.

Now, we are in the sit back and wait stage. In theory, I should have this dyepot at a constant body-like temperature. There is nowhere in my house that is that temperature, so it’s sitting in the basement near the dehumidifier vent, which is probably the most consistently-warm place in the house. I checked on it tonight, and there’s really not much to see, which is probably a good thing since I went all the way down there with the camera and then realized that I forgot the camera card in my computer. Imagine a rather brownish liquid that looks kind of like oversteeped tea filling a cat litter pail and covered precariously with saran wrap. Not very exciting, in truth. I detected no signs of happy fermentation, but then it’s kind of hard to tell in such a thin liquid anyway, and it may take a few days to get going since the temperature is cooler than optimal.

So, I may or may not be making an indigo vat. I’m not really sure. The one thing I am sure of is that I haven’t followed any of the directions exactly, which is the only thing that all of the recipes seem to agree that one must do in order to succeed in dyeing with indigo. After screening several dozen conflicting recipes, I decided that it really seemed silly to me that there should be so many conditions that absolutely must be met in order to make a decent dye. People wouldn’t have been doing this for thousands of years if it were rocket science, right?

In the end, there is a plant with dye. You steep the leaves to get the dye out. Then you have to reduce the dye in a basic environment (using bacteria, happy yeast, or some other reducing agent). Once it’s reduced, you dip in the fiber and see what happens. In an ideal world, the dye will have adhered to the fiber in its reduced form, and will then oxidize back to blue when it hits the air. So far, I haven’t seen any blue, but I also don’t think that my dye vat is ready. They’re supposed to take a while to ferment. Maybe I’ll add some more yeast.

I also need to check what kind of pH wool can take. The recipes say that they’re for wool, but so far as I know, protein fibers and base do not mix, so I’m a bit unsure as to what will happen when I dip skeins of wool into a base bath that’s supposed to be between pH 9 and 11.

It will probably be a minor miracle if this dye bath produces anything other than a faintly sweet rotting odor at the end of its one to two week incubation stage. But then again, it could make a beautiful blue. At least the frost didn’t get the plants, right?

You know that point where you have so much to say that you just can’t say any of it? That’s how I’ve felt about blogging for the past couple of weeks. First, I had a lot of things to say but no photos to show. Then, I took a bunch of photos, and now I have too many posts!

I guess there are worse problems.

So, let’s see. Let’s do oldest first, shall we?

Here are the warps that I dyed a couple of weekends ago in the workshop with the weaving guild. They were dyed as pairs, and are intended to be woven together.

I’m not sure yet if I’m in love with this one, but I will probably end up liking it, once I get started. The colors in the top section just sing, don’t they?

This one is brighter than my usual, but I love, love, love it. Can’t wait to see how it turns out.

And this is for weaving with the first. It’s hard to see in the picture, but it’s a beautiful black-green that would be gorgeous on its own, too.

I’m excited about getting these started, but have a few other things in the lineup first.

Remember the ugly roving? The lavender-in-springtime turned acid green? (Actually, it wasn’t all that ugly, just entirely, absolutely, and completely not me.)

Well, it turned out to be a slightly felted ugly roving, which led to much grumbling during spinning, and a certain desire to let it disappear into the depths of stash and never be seen again. But I persevered (it really wasn’t that bad, but it also wasn’t what I had hoped). By the end, I had two slightly uneven, not entirely awful skeins of yarn that I was pretty sure I’d never use.

And then it hit me. This yarn is perfect. It’s just not perfect for knitting. Note how it is an entirely different color in the first photo and the second? Just proves that the camera is as befuddled by the color of this yarn as I am.

It really wants to be an accent yarn, to pull out the color in these two dark weaving yarns, and to make the fabric “pop.”

Unfortunately, that realization led to disappointment the next morning when I went to wind some warp in the 10 minutes I had before leaving the house. I went and got the cones, and realized that they are different weights, and it’s not usually a good idea to put different weight yarns together like I wanted to put these together. So, I placed an order for more yarn (sigh), and it should be here sometime late this week or early next. Just goes to prove that there’s never a “bad” yarn…just the wrong project. I am almost giddy with excitement about how well I think this is going to work, especially after being so sure that it was just never going to be useful.

And finally (for tonight…there is more, but I need to take pictures. Not that you’ve ever heard that before.), here are the results of last weekend’s playing in the basement:

I guess that was really two weekends ago now, wasn’t it? In any case, I had some friends over to play with color in the basement, and while they painted yarn I sampled away. I got through 6 of the new dyes, and it has amazed me yet again how many colors can come from just a few jars. Many of these colors aren’t high on my “must have” list, but I absolutely love the greens and other colors that I got by combining them with other dyes. My head is spinning with combinations that I can’t wait to put to fiber.

This weekend (the one that just finished), I embarked on a bigger project than I’d intended sooner than I’d intended, got one launched a lot faster than I expected thanks to some new tools Branden whipped up while he was home, and generally managed to get myself into all kinds of trouble. More on that to come, when I find some sunlight.

September is one of my favorite months, but this year I can’t say I’m sad to see it go. It has been a busy, busy month. This week, for instance, I’ve been home one night out of four.

This means, of course, a lot less knitting time.

Fortunately, I had some knitting that I could take on the bus, and therefore have managed to make it to the cuff of the first sleeve:

I really like the way my shoulder shaping works when I pick up stitches and knit down. I really hate knitting down from the shoulder and having to flip the whole sweater over every time I make it around the sleeve stitches. The solution?

I simply pick up and knit the sleeve shaping to the point where it joins into the round just below the armpit. Then, I cast on again with a provisional cast on and keep going. The sleeve is easy to work, it’s small enough to bring along with me, and there is no frustration and discomfort from having an unwieldy sweater attached to the little tube I’m knitting. When the sleeve is finished, I pick out the provisional cast on and graft it onto the body. I’ve done this for the last 3 sweaters, and I love the way it works. I get the shaping I want, and also manage to enjoy the sleeve knitting. And, when it’s a crazy busy week, I can work on my sweater on the bus.

1) Combed wool. Not a lot, but we finally had a nice weather weekend, and I got an hour or so done on the fleece I’m processing. I’m about two ounces in, and there is so far to go…

2) Cleaned the house. Finally. It’s still cluttered, and there are things out of place all around me, but it isn’t dirty. It’s been making me crazy, so it felt good to check that off.

3) Did laundry…I have clothes to wear again!

4) Finished winding the warp (measuring out all the pieces of yarn) for my next project on the small loom. 300 is a lot of pieces of yarn. Fortunately, you only have to wrap them onto the warping board and then tie them into bundles.

5) Cleaned out the garden. Removed all the tomato, eggplant, and pepper plants that were not happy with the fall weather, replaced them with mustard and spinach greens that should thrive until the first hard frost. Fingers crossed that it holds off a few more weeks.

6) Held a dye workshop in the basement. I think I’m up to five converted dyers now, which isn’t too bad. I have another two lined up, too. I wish I’d had the presence of mind to take pictures, because there were some gorgeous colors.

7) Made samples for all of my new dyes, so that I can fill in the gaps in my color cards. There were even more gorgeous colors there. I haven’t prepared their little cards yet, so they are still wrapped in plastic waiting for my attention.

8) Managed to lend a spindle and some fiber to my downstairs neighbor who has been making little interested noises about spinning for a while. Two minutes of lesson, half an hour of practice, and she’s off and running. Some people just have natural talent.

9) Worked on the sweater. Two sleeve caps have been picked up from the body, one arm has made it down to the elbow. Managing the color gradients in this yarn is a little trickier, and is calling for strategic skein usage. I think it’s working so far.

10) Began spinning the fleece I bought at the Sheep and Wool festival. We’re about 3/4 of a bobbin in.

11) Washed some sweaters so that Branden will have something to wear when he comes to visit next weekend. He’s used to 90 degree weather in Georgia, and we’re down in the 40’s overnight. I think he will be needing some wool.

And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to collapse on the couch and stare off into space for a while before the week starts up again. Hope you all had lovely and fiber-filled weekends, too!

Here it is, Wednesday night, and it’s dark outside. No light for photos of the new sock, in yarn that most definitely enjoys being a sock and will be very warm. (If I had thought of it, I could have had a photo at the expense of a few minutes’ delay in dinner, but I was hungry and didn’t think of it.)

It’s funny…I am absolutely certain that the sweater will be too small (despite multiple tryings-on), and I am just as sure that this sock will be too big, despite having checked it against others that fit. Maybe I need to get checked for some kind of knitting dysmorphia?

About a week ago, I ran out of bus knitting, and started a new project. I’ve had some beautiful Malabrigo sock hanging around, just waiting for an opening in the lineup. As soon as it came, I cast on.

I knit the toe, and decided that it really, really needed a smaller needle after all. I switched to a size 0, and cast on again. All along, the yarn has been objecting quietly. It’s behaving beautifully. It’s knitting up into a nice, firm fabric. The colors are incredible. But it has bigger dreams.

It wants to be a scarf. A woven scarf, in particular (it was quite specific about the woven part). It wants to go with this bamboo:

And honestly, there’s not much I can say at this point. I have started winding the warp.

In other news, the sweater is coming along nicely. Its alarming growth spurt has slowed, simply because I wasn’t home much this week, and when I was home I was winding warps for yesterday’s workshop. (More on that when I can take pictures of the finished warps, which are waiting to be rinsed later this afternoon.) Even so, I’ve almost made it to the hem.

I have an inch or so more ribbing, and then it’s on to the sleeves. I swear, it actually fits even though it looks tiny. I keep trying it on to check the size and can in fact put it on and be comfortable. Apparently, I am used to wearing sweaters with about 10 inches of ease, and so anything that actually fits looks small. Who knew?

Monday: first knitting guild meeting of the new year

Tuesday: work semi-emergency requiring evening hours

Wednesday: winding blank warps for a dye workshop on Saturday (only 150 more 6-yard pieces to make, of the original 600…I might actually make it)

And this was supposed to be a quiet, relaxing week. Ah, well. Half way over, right?

I have always assumed that supported spindles are roughly equivalent to drop spindles. Two tools with a slightly different geometry that get the job done. I was more intuitively comfortable with drop spindles (I have no idea why), so I started there, and there I have stayed.

But today, this popped up in my feed reader, and I think I may need to reconsider. My shoulder has prevented me from drop spindling in any quantity for many, many months now. Spinning supported looks like it might be the answer.

And even if it’s not, it sure looks fun.

Fall may have fallen fast, but I think I fell harder.



I went to the Jefferson Sheep and Wool Festival yesterday with a friend (I’m not sure if she uses her real name online), and I came home with enough Shetland fleece for two sweaters, one for me and one for Branden. There’s a rule that I can only have one unprocessed fleece waiting for my attention at a time, so this is all roving ready to go. The brown and white mixed fleeces are from McGyver, the dark brown is from Magnolia, and the grey is from Harriet. I don’t know why it amuses me so much to get personal info about my sheep suppliers, but it does. There’s something fun about going up to buy a fleece and having the shepherd assure you that “she has beautiful wool, and she’s such a sweet girl, too.”

I was much more restrained in my other purchases. I got a pair of fine hand combs for finishing the fleece that I’m processing by hand. I got a bunch of dyes to replace the ones that are running low, and a few new ones to experiment with. I bought an 8 oz. skein of absolutely lovely superfine alpaca at 2400 yds that has weaving written all over it.

I was surprised to see Briar Rose Fibers at the show; I didn’t know that they would be here. I got to meet Chris, finally, after all I’ve heard about her from Jocelyn and Anne. Her fiber is even lovlier in person than it is online. I have been looking at her yarns for quite some time now, waiting for the perfect project, wondering when it would be time to try them. I decided that yesterday was the time, even if I don’t have a specific project yet, or even an opening in the lineup. I could have gladly taken home about 3/4 of the skeins in her booth, but after some deliberation settled on this one.

The poor lighting doesn’t do it justice, but I wanted to just take the pictures so that I could post today instead of waiting a week. It’s a lovely brown and teal yarn, with just a little bit of coffee icecream in there to keep things from being too dark. It’s beautiful, and I can’t wait to knit with it.

Despite having fallen down in several places, there were many more in which I was strong. I passed on some gorgeous alpaca/tencel/cashmere that looked like metal and felt like heaven. I also managed to resist buying out this whole booth of merino/alpaca:

Do you see those colors? I could have taken one of each, or twenty. I can’t believe I forgot to take a picture that included the name of the fiber artist (I think I was avoiding taking pictures of her customers, and so missed that section of the booth). She’s not online yet, but I’m on her mailing list to announce it when her fibers are available. I wasn’t ready to choose without a specific project in mind, and so I’ll wait for another day to buy her yarn. Someday, though, I will have the absolutely perfect project for it.

In a surprising show of willpower (for me, at least), I also resisted the acquisition of another hobby. There was a lot of rug hooking around the show, and it was beautiful.

I loved the detail, and the careful mixing of colored strips of fabric to get such beautifully shaded results. And it would be a great way to use all those tiny bits of fabric that I can’t bring myself to throw away when I’m sewing. Someday, perhaps. Someday.

The leaves are still clinging to the trees, but fall has arrived. I swear I heard a quiet “whump” when it hit. One week temperatures were in the 80’s and super humid, the next it was in the 40’s overnight and barely making 60 during the day. This, to me, is perfectly glorious.

It also means that I get to absolutely had to pull out my sweaters again. I wore both of the handspun sweaters last weekend, and can pronounce them both perfect, and wonderfully warm. I am tempted to commence living in them 24-7, but somehow I think the muggles wouldn’t understand.

Branden also got to try on his sweater, but I’m afraid the bachelor 15 (a close relative of the dreaded freshman 15) rendered it a bit snugger than expected, and so we’re holding off on modeling shots for now. It was worn, it was liked, and I’ve decided I’m ok with stripes. (I might even like them, but don’t tell anyone.)

The new sweater is flying off the needles at a shocking pace, considering how little I feel I’ve knit on it. I suppose that’s the advantage of endless knitting; once you’ve finished, pieces that progress at a normal pace seem to move about 10 times faster. It’s now a good six inches past the point where I took this photo on Tuesday:

It did need a little surgery due to some excessively abrupt color changes (didn’t pair the right skeins together to even things out, apparently).

I’ve reknit the back panel, and just need to graft the neck side pieces back on, and then you’ll never be able to tell. Do you think this grafting thing is becoming an unhealthy obsession?

I also had some unexpected finishing in the bus knitting department. I’m not sure I’ve even blogged about this scarf yet; it’s been condemned to live its life in my work bag, and hasn’t really seen the light of day outside of my daily commute. I use the term “finished” loosely here; I cast off on Tuesday, and haven’t been home since to weave in the ends or block it. I love it now, but I think it’s going to be even better when it’s had a bath to open up those holes in the lace.

It’s made from the handspun Finn that I bought at the Door County Shepherd’s Market in June. It’s somewhat fitting that I’ve just finished it now, as the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival is tomorrow, and I’m playing hooky from work to go pet some fiber with a friend. I have already begun the chant that says I cannot buy more fleece until I have processed what I have. Somehow I’m not sure it’s a strong enough incantation, but I’m afraid it’s all I have.