NEW WOOL COLORS ~ ~ ~

In the mornings, I've been putting on a couple of dye pots each day in preparation for my upcoming show at Quailcrest Herb Farm in Wooster ~ check it out on Coming Events on the left sidebar. 

I'm trying ProChem colors here ~ lovely brights that will appeal to some more than others.  I love the depth of color that came out came out in these batches ~ kind of a jewel tone effect and very mottled!

These formulas lean more toward the primitive colors that I know so many like ~ me, too!  Deep rich color!  Dyed wool has an appeal and gives an effect in a rug that as-is wools just can't do! 

I have to tell you that I used citric acid crystals for the first time ever!  When I had the red pot on and the water was rolling, I put the crystals in ~ take it from me ~ don't do that!!  The water erupted like a freaking volcano all over my stove, counters, floor and whatever was within a couple of feet!!!!!!!  RED DYE everywhere!!!!!!!!  Of course, I was in a hurry ~ when am I not?  So, I cleaned up all the liquid with paper towels and then thew them in the garage trash can because if anyone had looked in the kitchen waste basket, they would have thought I'd slit my throat!!!  As I said, I was in a hurry ~ leaving to go  to an appointment and had to leave the stained counters and floors till I returned!  That was ~ of course ~ after Sonny got home from work!!  It's a good thing he's not given to rage because it looked pretty darned bad in there!!  But dishwasher soap saved my day ~ and my arse!!  I pour it straight onto the counters and whatever else it got on and use a green scrubbie and it takes all the color right off!!  Thank goodness!!  Sonny's been wanting to get new counters and I'm fine with what's there ~ but as I went on my errands, I thought this may be the day when new counters become an option!!! 

 These are little bunches of dyed fleece ~ great for adding another texture to your hooking!  I throw them in the top of the dye pot and I think the colors came out great!! They make great flowers or grass or even hair if you're into hooking people!

Last night we had a fiasco with a shower faucet ~ I went into it on Facebook ~ it will probably come back to haunt me ~ Sonny thinks I tell everything that goes on here!  Believe me, I don't ~ you wouldn't even believe it, if I did!!  It ended up with water shooting everywhere ~ me removing the contents of a guest room closet ~ Sonny cutting a hole in the wall to get to the guts of the plumbing ~ and then capping off the pipes until we can shop for a new faucet and call a plumber!!!  Now we're sharing Tad's shower!!  As I shared last night on Facebook ~ Sonny boy says "you don't have to drink to live here, but it sure does help"!! 

I hope you all have a great Labor Day weekend ~ we're going to ~ I'm counting on it! 

SHOW PREP ~ ~ ~

Dyed fleece! That's what's in these little bags! Colorful, isn't it? I tried to put some fleece in every dye pot so there would be an array of colors to offer at the show Saturday! Dyed fleece is great for garden flowers, to enhance a field of grass or maybe even to hook a wild-haired angel!! Quailcrest Herb Fair is north of Wooster, so if you get a chance, come by and see us! Our booth is in the tent up by the house ~ my same spot for over 20 years!!!!

This was Tuesday dyeing results ~ tomato soup (named by customer, Molly), robin's egg blue, midnight and pea-green!! Yesterday, I started to pack the crates, divide the as-is wool into a more manageable amount (I tend to pack everything~that's just crazy) and price the remnants (small pieces of odds and ends) which are great for adding to your color stash!

I sent this photo to a customer to give her an idea of how several pieces of wool dyed the same color, but different base colors, will all blend together. When you're planning a background or any color combination, this will give you a bird's eye view of how it all works together. Kim liked what she saw ~ so this is all going in the mail today!! Thank you so much!!!

That's it for today ~ the wool room is calling ~ I'll try to get another post in before Saturday and then I will take pictures at the show for you to see next week. The weather forecast is great ~ low 70's, no rain ~ yippee!!! There's nothing better than outdoor show when all conditions are right!

Have a happy day ~
Alice

TODAY ~ ~ ~

We had a great proddy class in my studio!!! Five gals (two left before I remembered to get the camera out) who are all friends came to spend the day learning to proddy (some already knew how!)and laugh and eat and share their 'stories' (everybody has one, you know)!! Diana was a proddy machine ~ she got her entire sheep done and hooked his head and ears and a bit of background!!! Ann and RosaLee are showing off their progress too ~ Ann and I had some fun ~ are you still talking to me?? RosaLee is a long time hooker ~ I enjoy her outlook on life ~ someday, we're going to take a trip and let her be our tour guide!! Thanks girls for coming to spend the day ~ wish you could have seen Ruth's yellow sheep and Sharon (who is a traditional rug hooker) really stepped out of her comfort zone! When they're finished, I'll post pictures!

Since I knew some would be using fleece, I washed up a big pile the two days before!! If you've never washed a stinky sheep fleece, it's a treat!! My grandson, Luke, was over and thought it was pretty scary stuff!! There's a little bit of everything in the wool (this was sheared right from the sheep) and from all the lanolin, my hands are soft like a baby!!!

This is the nice clean fleece ~ Lincolnshire, I believe ~ when we went to a fiber show in the spring, Heidi and I split two different fleece ~ this is from the darker one. The other is silver grey and also very beautiful. I'm going to dye some of that ~ dyed curls make great little flowers or rainbows or accents in a proddied sheep!

Dirty fleece ~ that's what's in this bag!!!! Such an aroma ~ not something you run across every day!! My friend, Carol, who will be reading this, thinks we are very 'rural' and this will confirm it for her, for sure!!!!!!!!!!!! It takes a special kind of person to wallow around in this!! But the results are beautiful and these girls are really going to love the sheep they hook with their Lincolnshire fleece!!

After the girls left and the kitchen was cleaned and the hooking room put back in order a little bit ~ I packed up some clothes and my son, Tad ~ and we headed for the lake! Sonny has a golf outing today and it's rainy (this is Friday but since I posted the pictures before I left home, it's dated yesterday) so I am going to get some quiet time in hooking and resting. And since none of our lake friends will be here this weekend, it will definitely be a quiet one! It's actually supposed to be in the 60's ~ yuk ~ I was going to get some sun ~ that means more hooking time!! That's a win-win situation, isn't it?

Have a good weekend wherever you are!
Alice