Dyes-a-lot

This photo shows the view from the back deck where I spend the weekend. I was at the Stagecoach Ranch outside of Sedan, Kansas with a group of 20 wonderful women at a dye workshop put on by the Wichita Weavers and taught by Linda Burt.




The 18 participants were divided into 8 groups. Each group was given 14 small hanks of undyed yarn. Each group was given different formulas to dye their yarn, using only the primary colors. At the end of the weekend we cut our yarn into pieces, attached them to cards and shared the yarn we dyed with the rest of the group. All of us left with samples of over 100 colors of yarn and the formulas to reproduce them.

The weekend was a visual feast--the food and company was good too.

I took about a dozen pictures of this color pyramid--it makes way more sense to me than the color wheel.














Blue, red, yellow, vinegar, salt, and a little soap were used . . .




. . . with a little bit of mad science--these two particular scientists are also bike riders. Gail and her husband just got a tandem . . . we had lots to talk about.









My partner, Amanda, is a computer support supervisor for Cessna. So the two biggest rule followers found each other . . . there was no nonsense at our station. Our reds and blues were dyed in a very orderly fashion, and the directions were followed to a "T."
















Yarn and dye were put in quart canning jars, the jars were put in a water bath in a canner, placed on a burner and simmered for an hour.










Here are the blues Amanda and I dyed.













Here are all the samples attached to cards all ready to be distributed.











On Saturday morning I got up before almost everyone else and went outside to a sheep serenade, which for some reason just cracked me up.