As the Spindle Turns . . .

I have a show coming up. I recently bought out a yarn shop in Canada, no, not the whole shop. I bought the same hemp yarn that I've always carried. I guess she was tired of trying to have it catch on. She doesn't dye. I do. I have a client who facilitated the trade, many thanks to Al-Jania. With the show coming up next weekend, I have to get moving.



Yesterday I got blue and purple dyed. I skeined more yarn and put on labels. The labels were a trip all on their own. Nothing is easy nor is it cheap. The cost of dye has gone up too. I am still working out just how much things like tape for the labels, the labels themselves, the dye and the incredible quantity of water that dyeing takes. I may only use 2.5 gallons for the bath but rinsing, then synthrapol, then soap and then another rinse, not to mention the original scouring and rinsing. I can go through 125 gallons per color. That is why I try to dye all my linen thicknesses and hemp at the same time. Only now, linen has a 10 % tariff. I didn't buy any yet. The chemicals add about $.45 to each ball. The label adds another $.50. Not sure on the water and the tape. Tape has gotten expensive. I see why some people use staples. I think staples catch on the yarn. I don't care for them. Anyway, labels were obtained at OfficeMaximus. They got the correct thickness of paper this time.



But nothing is easy. Forget the power outage yesterday. I bought the wrong kind of salt last time. I picked up trace minerals instead of fine salt. It sat in the car all winter, adding ballast on icy roads. As I ran out of my stash of dye salt, I hauled the 25 pounder out of the car and up the hill, cut it open, only to find out, it isn't really salt (NaOH). I looked up when tractor supply opens. They open ay 9 am on Sunday. Shower, get dressed, throw food into mouth and head out the door. Nope, wait, where are my shoes? I spent over 20 minutes trying to find my shoes. Then it occurred to me, I kicked them off to balance better on the front terrace when planting, two days ago? Thank goodness, they were still there.



Did I mention I hate deadlines? I really hate the pressure. It adds so much stress. I love dyeing but leisurely-like. I look at the weld in the front and think, oh, perfect. I should wind the superwash fingering wt. yarn and do a batch. But no, I have a whole tray of hemp to dye. I go through this every year. I'd rather be working on my own projects. Business means having an illusion of abundance. You can't just have one color. You must have a rainbow. I will sell mostly unbleached. I know this. But without the other colors, it won't sell as my Canadian peer discovered. Psychology is half of being a successful business. You want people to feel they have choices. Why is natural gray my best seller in both linen and hemp? Because if you want to make a small project like a dish cloth, you want something you know is nontoxic. While my hand-dyeds do not bleed, the customer wants the safety in a gift. Also, who knows what color their friend's kitchen is? The colors are great for making shopping string bags. I mean it all sells but the natural undyed I need more of. Side note: commercially raised cotton dish cloths contain a lot more harmful chemicals that do wash out in your dish water. You just don't even think about the pesticides used to grow cotton. Hemp doesn't need pesticides. (Well unless you have stoners who don't know the different between industrial hemp and the smoking kind.)



Which brings me back to today's projects. I need to scour two more pounds of hemp yarn. Then start of Forest green and a saffron yellow, moving on to red. That gives me a start: red, yellow, green, blue, purple, bleached, and natural. Terra cotta is not a big seller. I can work on that later. This gives me enough to fill a tray. Maybe if there is time, I can start on that weld for the fingering weight wool.It's still like cramming for an exam or working on a final project.



Note to self: Buy chalk to dye the Inca cotton. There is a good crop of rose leaves this year.

Natural dye challenge update: All the skeins for the tin mordant bath are done. Oregano skeins are dry and wound. I need to take pictures. Too bright and sunny today. I did a black raspberry leaf dye bath today. I was surprised by the beautiful colors, a nice deep brown, a mossy green and a bright yellow. The carrot tops came out rather chartreuse. And the cochineal was so dark and deep raspberry red. I am dyeing more skeins in this bath. I have a bulky superwash to dye in the leftover cochineal. I cut rhubarb for tomorrow. I need to cut zinnia flowers too.

Then on to other plants around the yard. Tomato vines and lemon balm I expect to do next. Marigolds and goldenrod too. I'm running out of time. I work Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The van is still at the shop.



I finished the sleeves on my sweater. Next I tackle the back. I hate instructions that say knit for X number of inches. I need to know that the front and back will match. The number of rows must be the same. Going to postpone working on it until I have more time to make sure it matches.

I spent Saturday chopping, blanching and freezing six pounds of chard. I finally got around to it. We harvested 19.5 pounds of produce this week. Total for the year is 250.5 pounds. There are three new zucchini starting but the drought is affecting the plant. The long island cheese pumpkin is getting big. The vine is over 25 ft long. A second pumpkin is growing. The buttercup in comparison is about 6 ft long with two pumpkins. Since I've not grown this kind before I can't tell if they are ripe. Still waiting to dig sweet potatoes until after Shenandoah Valley Fiber Fest. Chronographia bought us a Chicago Fig Tree (on sale). I have a space in mind but it will be a while before I can dig it out. Too dry to plant. Watering takes up a lot of time each day.

The strawberry bed is coming along. Digging a swale/walking path is hard and slow-going. I mislaid the shims I need to level the cinderblocks. One bucket of coffee grounds a day takes a while to fill in my holes. So it's slow-going.

I did get a little time to work on my skirt. All the purple squares are cut. I managed to get two quads stitched but the heat in the attic was incredible this week. We had a couple of 90° days. So that will have to wait to be completed as well.

I had the strangest dreams. I was setting up at a renfaire. My area was a fire pit and all my dyed yarns would be for sale. There was one major problem, I had to start a fire in three inches of water and it was still raining. Curious, the effects hurricanes have on one's dreams. Meanwhile in real life, the hurricanes stole all our water. It has been bone dry.

Another dream, another Renaisance Fair, behind the scenes, a giant cart the size of a delivery van, loaded with clothing, curtains, and fabric in lovely colors. Pulling together an outfit very quickly as gate call would happen shortly. Then looking myself over and realizing I had a better costume already on, but the lure of free is always tempting. Nothing but a time waster. I ran late and rushed to setup.

Meanwhile, I am enjoying extracting colors from nature, whether it be on fabric, raw fiber, or yarn. Perhaps I should pull a dye demonstration booth together. Mayhap, not in the rain.