Saturday, November 21, 2009

a home-made drop spindle and dying yarn


I want to start spinning my own wool. I bought a drop spindle from Craigslist a few weeks ago and ordered roving from a vendor on Etsy this week. I checked out a book about spinning from the library and one of the first things I learned was that it is easy and cheap to make a drop spindle at home. You need:
a cd
a dowel about 3/8"
a plastic washer

David put it together. The only tool he used was his swiss army knife. I will try spinning with it when my roving arrives and report back.

I also tried dying yarn with Kool Aid last week. I took two skeins and dyed them with four colors. Big mistake for a first time. It was so raveled up. It took me a couple days to get it un-raveled and rolled.
To dye with Kool Aid
tie the yarn in a couple of places. If you tie it tight, you will have white spots where under that yarn.
Place the yarn in a bowl of cold and let it sit for about 30 minutes. (this step really confused our kitten. He saw string, which he loves and water, which he hates. He finally just drank a bit of the water)
Stir together the kool aide, 1/2 cup cold water for ea 2 oz of yarn, and 1/4 cup vinegar for each 2 oz of yarn in a pot large enough to hold both liquid and yarn without crowding.
Bring mixture to a low simmer and simmer for 15-30 minutes. When the water is clear all the color has been absorbed. Cool to room temperature.
To rinse, fill a large bowl with room temp water, add the room-temp yarn and very gently squeeze the yarn. Repeat with fresh water until the water stays clear.
Hang the yarn to dry.

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