The Hollyhock Blog

This Wednesday finds me with only one pair of mittens.   Same green as last week.

One more pair for charity

  Since I had so much of this color, this pair is adult sized.  It will go to the food shelf or some other charity.  I did finish the ball with this pair.  On to a new color next week!

Rolly and Sonny are weaned and we are starting their training.  After a few times of just wearing halters, I’ve started working with them and the lead rope.  Here’s Rolly. 

Rolly

Rolly close up

He’s more shy and tends to want to just stand.

But Sonny

Son of Bond

Sonny close up

he wants to pull back and jump up.  It  takes many days of short lessons before they understand the gentle tugging on the halter just means to move forward.  As it gets warmer, it is easier (for me) to work with them more.  

I also updated most of the alpacas web pages  and created a page for Rolly and Sonny.   I’ve many plans for the website and the warmer weather is reminding me that my time to do inside work is quickly coming to an end.

I must praise Dharma Trading.   I bought my dyes from them.  When faced with the question of forgetting the citric acid, I emailed them.  Within hours, I got a reply.   They suggested I wash the yarn in the hottest tap water and detergent.  If the dye stays, it is good!  So I washed and the dye stayed.  

Ready to go

The skeins re-wound to properly mix the colors.

On Saturday, I dyed this. 

My favorite colors

It is the last of my imported 100% alpaca bulky yarn.  My goal is to dye all my imported yarn before I get my Wisconsin grown yarn back from Rach-Al-Paca.   I have a cone (about 2 pounds) of 80% alpaca / 20% silk lace weight and over a cone of 100% alpaca sport weight to dye!   I got some dyeing tips from the Wool Princess  and I’ll be trying these out soon and sharing the results with you.

I’ll be consigning my yarn and a few finished items at a new shop – Art Reflections near here.  I’m very excited to see how my things will do there.  And Delightful Day Boutique has had requests for yarn.  So I’ll be bringing in some yarn to join the felting kits  already there.

I must admit having a self-imposed deadline of making something for charity and posting it weekly has made me productive.  But not very creative.  So again,

More mittens

I have knit  these 2 pair of mittens.  This was a big skein of acrylic yarn, so expect more of the same for next week. 

I think know I messed up!  I had 2 skeins of the imported bulky alpaca yarn weighed out to make 2 scarves.  I wanted to try multi-color dyeing in my big roaster.  First the yarn was soaked in soapy water, then laid neatly in the roaster just covered with water, then dye squirted onto and into the yarn.  It was torture NOT stirring.  But I managed to control the stirring urge while the temperature got up to nearly 190 degrees, kept it there for an hour, then turned off the heat until the next morning. 

Dyeing in the roaster

It was sometime in the wee morning hours that I realized I had not put any citric acid in the dye water – Ooops!  Big oooops!  Kool-aid is acidic all by itself, but commercial acid dyes – such as I used here – need acid to adhere to the yarn.  But the water was nearly clear when I took the yarn out – a good sign.  I washed, rinsed and let the yarn sit in vinegar water for awhile.  Then I let it dry. 

Dyed and dried

 I’m most dissappointed in the yellow.  It seems really washed out.   I can’t decide if I should re-dye.  Any opinions?  I don’t know if the dye will wash out easily – it didn’t when I washed it.  Anyone know?  So for now, this yarn is in time-out!  Lesson learned!

For several years, I have sold more alpaca products than I produce.  I have been buying white yarn wound into big cones (about 2 pounds) from Peru.  I have used this yarn for much of my dyeing, as most of my alpacas are beautiful shades of brown or black.  But I spent 13.5 hours last week cleaning raw, white fiber that I purchased from Kinney Valley Alpacas.  What does cleaning fiber mean?   I sort through each fleece to remove VM (vegetable matter) which can be hay, straw, burrs, etc.   I might also find a few bugs who have found their way into the bags of fiber.  And this: 

Yarn menaces

 The little bright white pieces are called second cuttings.  That happens when the shears cuts off the majority of the fiber in one pass, then overlaps a bit of the first pass by another swipe.  The result is short pieces of fiber which turn into nasty little gobs in the yarn.   The other fiber in the picture is course fiber from legs that got caught up in the prime blanket fiber by mistake.  This will cause the yarn to itch if it gets spun into the yarn.  After 13.5 hours at my skirting table, this was UNDER the table!

Dirt, dust, VM, etc!

And this was what was invited into my house. 

Clean, crimpy fiber

 About 30 pounds of super soft, clean, ready to be processed fiber.

Bags of clean fiber

  The plan is to take it to Rach-Al-Paca Farm next weekend.   Oh yes, she knows it is coming.  It’s a lot more work and time involved, but I think I will have better yarn than what I was importing.  I can hardly wait to get all that yarn back.  I will be a dyeing fool! 

I got this surprise on my camera.  

Mother Nature's artistry

  Darryl took a few pictures of the lovely frosty trees yesterday.