A Small Dye Event

You would think that snow up to my chin would be perfect weather for dyeing...not so much!Not only is the snow deep, but it is too cold out there to open the window for ventilation! But, I was getting REALLY BORED spinning white cotton. I was getting good at it, but it looked like I was making kite string...and who wants to run around in chin deep snow with a kite? Well, who COULD anyways!

But then, I remembered my Procion dyes. They do not require cooking. So, I grabbed the 3ply cotton yarn I had spun, some carded cotton roving and some random Tencel roving and did a tiny dye session.

Cotton is very hard to wet down. I had to squeeze it under water the push out the air and encourage the water to penetrate. I painted one hank of cotton roving, the hank of tencel and the 3 ply cotton I had spun. I also dyed 2 other hanks of cotton by pouring color onto them in a zip lock bag.

The dye did not penetrate to the core of the rovings, but, so far, they are spinning very nicely. The white core, when it comes to the surface, just forms white tweedy flecks. It is really very lovely on my bobbin. I had wondered if the roving would be hard to draft after the harsh compression...but, no, it is easy peasy. I am spinning the cotton on my Hansenn eSpinner while I read a novel. I saw Rita Buchanan do it, so I figured I would try it.