Hi all!
I have been dyeing wool and various other fibers INCLUDING cashmere, with no problems at all.  I bought an ivory 100% cashmere scarf to dye for my dad for Christmas and today when I tried to do it, I had a beautiful combination dye going, but when I washed it out, 90% of the dye came out!

I rewashed the scarf again and boiled the stupid thing in acid dye for two hours and it still only held a very very icy pastel bit of splotchy dye.  I even added more vinegar too- I finally had to use up the dye on other fibers so it would not go to waste.

Do you think they treated this scarf with something so it would not take dye?  I have NEVER had this problem before with any cashmere anything, and I have been dyeing it for years now with great results.

I have to see my dad tomorrow, and I had to give him this faded icky scarf now. 

*crying*

I don't know what to do!!!

Anyone have the pattern for the Shroat as seen on Uncommon Threads a few years ago?  I just saw it for the first time on HGTV (and missed the very beginning) but there is nothing online about it anymore and I REALLY Want to make one.

Okay, I am so proud.  I HATED knitting.  I mean HATED it.  I tried over and over since I was a little girl but I just could not knit.  I would crochet from time to time, but lost interest in it because it did not look quite as cool to me as hand knitted items did.

A few years ago I went to a fiber festival to keep my daughter busy and long story short, ended up after two years of going the third year I got a small spinning wheel. Before this, I had no desire or interest in knitting or working with fiber at all.  It bored me.

This coat is the 2nd thing I have ever knit (the other rainbow coat was partially knit on an ancient needle bed) but the first entirely hand knit anything I have done and finished.  I also hand dyed all of the fibers and hand spun as well on my wheel.  The wool is superwash merino.

I loved the artistic hand dyed and hand spun yarn look so I just HAD to learn to knit to make the fibers look as cool as I wanted them to.  Bamboo needles helped too.

These photos were taken when it was almost 20 degrees below zero windchill so they are not too good but I did not take any other photos of it yet.

The coat did not win at the festival I competed at- but it did get a white ribbon.  (in 4-H that usually meant that you could not go any lower, so I am not sure what that means in a fiber arts festival)

 Considering that it is my first ever project entirely handknit, I am very proud of it regardless.  

Oh yeah, and the buttons are made of dichroic glass- which I LOVE.  And the pattern is an oversized take off on the Vogue Holiday Issue Hexagon Coat from a year or two ago.  I like my coats big so I put elastic in the extra long sleeves to keep the wind from blowing through them and I also reinforced the waist and collar with elastic too since these photos were taken, which keeps it in place much better.








In case you don't remember my rainbow coat- I posted this quite a long time ago somewhere here on Crafster, but it was stored on photobucket.  Now it is stored here on Crafster.  I am reposting so you can see the first ever knitting project I am talking about above. 

I just entered my coat in a festival competition and as a last thought I entered a novelty yarn I did.  

My coat was very intense and my first ever entirely hand knit ANYTHING and only my second knitting project ever.  

I was shocked when my yarn won!!!


Here is a photo- the top center is the winning yarn.  I also did the other two, but did not enter those in the competition.

Hi you all- been quite a while since I have been on here,  been a ROUGH year.

I was just at a fiber arts festival this past weekend and someone said that she had been to a class with Lexi Boeger. (sp?)  She had recommended a spinning wheel I thought it was called MAgic something- but not sure.  Then there is this wild spindle thingie... She said it was only like $400 or so and I looked through Majacraft and nothing there is that cheap.

I can not ask her again- it was a stranger- and now I am frustrated.

Anyone have any insight?

I have a hitchhiker which -well nothing was wrong with it, but not it is not working after someone trying to be nice modified it for me without me knowing it beforehand.

So, I have to have SOMETHING to spin on, or I will go nuts. 

Anyone have any input?  I loved my little wheel and am very upset.  But I want to get into some novelty stuff which does not work with regular wheels, so I would like to know what might work.

I am very anxious to learn how to make artistic scarves from felting- something similar to these.  I really need to learn how- as it satisfies the artistic part of me.  But I can not find ANYONE locally
who can do this, nor online.

http://ny-image0.etsy.com/il_430xN.44774456.jpg

http://ny-image0.etsy.com/il_430xN.37985964.jpg

http://ny-image1.etsy.com/il_430xN.43937561.jpg

http://ny-image2.etsy.com/il_430xN.46183794.jpg

http://ny-image0.etsy.com/il_430xN.44168812.jpg

http://ny-image3.etsy.com/il_430xN.43336819.jpg



I have looked all over for instructions and can not find anything, can you help?

*grabbing hair in frustration*

Okay, I bought a TON of white regular wool from Sheepshedstudio at the recent huge sale she had and I am used to working with superwash wool.  Superwash takes the dye to the heavy intense IN YOUR FACE colors that I love to use.

However, this new wool is not superwash.

I am boiling the stupid stuff for an hour and it takes so long to take the color, and even then it is only half the strength of the superwash.  If I put in superwash in the same dye bath, it sucks up the full power color in like 10 minutes.

I have not been soaking first in vinegar, but I have been adding citric acid to the water.

So far, I have been using the Country somethingorother dyes(prochem's weaker acid dyes), and Jacquard Acid dyes.

Superwash hardly took up any dyes in order to get very gorgeous intense colors in it, and this stuff seems to need so much more dye and then it only takes in a little bit.

I have like 30 pounds of this stuff and I have been crying today because I love working with Superwash- the intense colors is the only stuff I enjoy working with.

And purple will only take the bright blue, and not take the pink at all.


Can anyone help me?

(stovetop is what I am doing).

Also, I am thinking of trying the Neon and black food coloring, but after this, I am so discouraged I am thinking of giving up altogether.

Oh this is so gorgeous.  I just got to go to the Finger Lakes Fiber Festival this weekend and look what I got !

For felting- I have never felted on silk before so this oughta be interesting.  This is a silk/wool mix roving to use on the silk scarf.






PARTY IN A BAG- I can hardly wait to spin this up- what should I make with it?

I have the Davenport book on Rigid Heddle Looms (hands on) but I am completely uninspired by it. 

I can not find any other books to look at other than this one and I am kind of disappointed.

If I could see somethign that would motivate me, I would be inspired.  But there is no one around here and the few weaving books I got from the library bored me.

I am visual and if you show me something bright and exciting, I will plow through mountains to accomplish it.  However, when I have no direction I can not stir up any excitement at all.

Are there books or videos that will help me here since I have no people to turn to?

Thanks!

Okay, I know that this probably sounds stupid, but if I am weaving, do I need to spin a certain way so that it will work on the shuttles, or doesn't it matter?

Also, if you weave, do you need shuttles that are shorter than the width of the biggest warp on the loom (rigid heddle) or is it better to have shorter ones.

I hate to sound so stupid, but I really don't know and I want to spin up some yarn to learn, but I think I need more than one shuttle too.....

This is very overwhelming.....