Hi Gardengal -
I don't have sheep, but I wish I did!
We have several great fiber festivals around here and my Mom and I try to get to at least a couple. I do the spinning and dying and she (tries) to knit at least some of it.
Once you get into dyeing your own roving, you won't want to stop! For really easy dyeing, you can start with Kool-aid drink mix (I haven't actually done it, but people say it's easy and colorfast), I prefer Easter Egg dyes (Paas - you can get it cheap after Easter at
Walmart and other shops and it never goes bad!). I haven't bought commercial acid dyes just yet, but I will someday.
I also use natural dyes (goldenrod, marigold, onion skin, whatever I find laying around.....
) The book Wild Color by Jenny Dean is back in print and it's a terrific resource for natural dyeing.
So far I've made sweaters from my hand dyed, scarves and hats and mittens from handspun. I've just learned to weave, so I'm trying to use up some of my less than perfect handspun in pillows and big fat fluffy scarves....
I'll find out how to post pictures....
What are you spinning right now?
I am working on some Romney fleece that my Mom bought back in November. I washed it and plopped it right into a pot of purple easter egg dye. The purple is awesome because the color "splits" and you get all sorts of shades of pink, blue and purple. When it had dried, I mixed it in the carder with some dyed silk and turquoise mohair I'd bought at a fiber show. I have to card the second half of the batch so I can spin the rest of the dyed stuff, then back to the plain silver grey for my mom to knit.
Well, I guess that's my Sunday work... lol and my DH complains that I never get anything done...
