Thursday, September 3, 2009

DYING & FOLDING ~ ~ ~

That's what I've been doing these last few days! This color was kind of a fluke ~ but it looks great! It turned out a great fuschia color with lots of mottling! Don't you think it will hook into beautiful flowers? I really want to concentrate on offering more dyed wool ~ the colors are so soft and beautiful and really help to give our rugs an older look ~ dyed wool gives a rug a kind of patina that we just don't get with as-is wool.

These are just a variety that I put in the dye pots this week ~ a nice robin's egg blue, a couple of golds, some nice pumpkiny colors ~ and I dyed fleece with all of them, too. I took these pix in a hurry yesterday so I could post them to the blog before we left home and put them in the save file. Now I'm adding the text from the lake! We came up last night ~ yippee!!

And this is nice pile of neutrals ~ good for dying or light backgrounds or sheep. These are all as-is but I had never cut up the wool when I got my last shipments. So I spent a good while cutting it all into half yard pieces and folding it ~ getting ready for my two upcoming shows! Kind of makes me wish I had done that right after I processed it all! Sometimes I do get the wool snipped into half-yard segments beforehand so all I have to do is the tearing ~ even that little bit done ahead helps! For those who don't work with wool, there really is a lot of preparation before we even set down to hook!

This is a great collection of as-is ~ nice dark antiquey colors! My arms were tired after all that ripping and tearing ~ but the smart thing I did was to do it outside so I didn't have all that wool dust in my hooking room!! I figured out that little trick last year! I set up a card table outside the door and just haul wool in and out and tear away!! And I get a little fresh air and sunshine while I'm at it!! I am always astounded at the amount of wool dust that settles after I've had a class or a group in to hook!

I'm hoping to get a little hooking time in this weekend ~ I fell off the 10 minute hooking challenge for two weeks ~ but I'm back on it now! I've done something that is hooking related everyday this week ~ as well I should, in light of the fact that I have two shows back to back! We have lots of fun planned for the next few days up here ~ it looks like it's going to be great weather so we have to take advantage of it for sure!!

Sonny is cleaning windows so maybe I should do a little vacuuming or something so I look productive! He has a hard time understanding how I can spend so much time putting a blog together ~ he thinks I'm 'playing' on the computer!! Little does he know that this thing can drive me crazy!!!!!!! Some would say it's a short drive!

Have a great Labor Day weekend ~ I'm sure I'll have some stories to tell next week! CONGRATULATIONS to our lake friends, Carol and Bill~ they became grandparents for the second time on Wednesday ~ daughter, Lisa, had a big bouncing boy ~ I don't know his name yet!! All of our friends up here are younger than us (they like hanging out with old people!) so their kids are just now starting their families ~ our grandkids are all in school now as of this year!!

Take care and have as much fun as you can!!
Alice

10 comments:

moosecraft said...

Alice - All that wool looks like FUN!!! Love all the colors, but I especially like the antique prim ones! A short drive to crazy it is... so some twisted side roads could help make it a little more intense! LOL! I always feel I need to be doing something when my hubby is doing something too... why IS that?!?! Must be a woman thing... ;-) Have a SUPER time at the lake!

ShabbySheep said...

Alice, What great photos of your wool! I love the dark colors. I once tried hooking a little mat with a very light background and ended up ripping it all out and using a dark blue! I dyed all day today too. It's only 70 degrees here~perfect!!!

WoolenSails said...

I love those antique darks. I am using a mix of whatever I have for my runner, wish I had more good colors, but I use thrift, so harder to get what I want sometimes.

Debbie

Rugs and Pugs said...

Alice ~
Love your wools! Can't wait to see them up close and personal.
If your hadn't torn all that wool outside, you'd be knee deep in wool dust. It is amazing how quickly it adds up.
Have a fun-filled weekend. Now why am I telling you that? You always do and you must be the life of the party...lol!
Be safe.
Pug hugs :)
Lauren

Kim said...

LOL you goof! They don't like hanging out with OLD people..they love hanging out with FUN people!!! :o)) I LOOOOVE that robin's egg blue! Email me about that...seriously. I finally have the squares/circles pattern from Searsport ready...and I think that might be a nice one for the main background!??? You are so making me want to try my hand at wool dying!

Linda said...

Alice, all of your wool looks wonderful. I have plans to go to the Country Living Fair at the Ohio Village on Friday so won't be able to get to the Spirit of Friends show til Sat. Sure hope you have some wool left. I'll look for you!

http://simplycountryseasons.blogspot.com/

Alice ~ Folk Art Primitives said...

Thanks girls ~ I will still be up to my ears in wool this week!! Yes, Sheri ~ I remember when you reverse hooked that backgroun ~ I would have tried to love it no matter what!!

Wendie Scott Davis said...

Thanks for the nice comment on my little dip dye disaster! Whoa, when I came and visited your page - huge rug envy! Will I ever have a stash like that????? I hope so. But I guess having folks to sell it to would also be a good thing. I keep trying to project myself into my future at the lake full time, and it's a big mystery up there.

You may not feel it, but you appear super-duper organized and your dyeing is fantastic!! Your comments give me hope.

Wendie

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