Wool

I have inherited 32 bags of sheep wool-Yikes! My hubby is a little intimidated by it all, and after trying to wash 1/2 a bag, so am I.

Here are some projects I found for all this wool:

• A wool filled duvet
• Wool batting for quilts
• insulation (yeah-actually insulate houses with it!)
• dryer balls
• shoe felts/liners
• Newfoundland mittens (uses unspun wool)

Hmm...lots of ideas. Off to clean my wool....

Kool-aide and Dyeing

I'm still dying wool. This time I dyed it with Kool-aid. It dyed super fast, the water was clear within 20 minutes, and no dye squeezed out. Super impressed!

Grape in the crockpot-marbled effect.

lime green

cherry red

We had some snow. With it, we had a casualty-our mailbox: Gotta love snowplows.

Ice on the windshield

I'm Dyeing

Fiber, that is :) This is my first attempt at it and I've used commercial dyes. I hope sometime soon to commence using natural dyes, but I'm not there yet. Here's my first attempts:

Blue mohair and wool.The first two were dyed in a pot on the stove with alum as a mordant. The last did not have alum but had salt and was dyed in a crockpot.

Grey wool

I dropped into Fabricville again today...and (wait for it) bought NO fabric-amazing I know. Instead I bought dye and thread (black).

I have a jean skirt that I love..all except the faded look at the top of the skirt. So that's going to be dyed.

I also have a favorite shirt in a bright cornflower blue that has faded. This one is going to be tricky, as it has embroidery on it. I may just dye over it, leaving the embroidery blackish. Dunno.

Lastly, I have a favorite brown cotton skirt that floofs when you walk. It, alas, has also faded..and has a busted zipper that I plan to fix. Those small plastic hidden zippers tend to be cheap and break. I don't like them at all.

I also stopped at the garden center and bought 2 daffodil bulbs for my daughter who went crazy for them this spring-she was so excited.


Here are some pics from our trip to Ontario:

Niagara Falls

Large land snails my daughter fell in love with at Niagara Falls.

Our crazy family in a twisted mirror at the Science Center.

My youngest in awe of a model spaceship at the Science Center.

The gang at the Medieval Dinner and show-it was fun!

Medieval show!

The King with his Queen :)

 

Tally-ho! Going for a ride at Canada's Wonderland-one of the tamer ones!!

Here are some videos we took of the wilder rides we were on-too funny. The guy screaming is my husband ;)

Cotton

I ordered cotton here with very good results-great for spinning, quilt batting, etc.

Carding Fibers

HInt: Use dog brushes (the flat square ones) to card your fibers for spinning!