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field trip
Jul. 10th, 2004 11:19 amToday was a good day for fiber fun down in Alexandria. Paula and I made the pilgrimage to VA today, equipped with her birthday money, and cash that I procured from a recent amazon.com book selling. We started at Springwater Fiber Workshop, and I think we'll be taking a class down there at some point as well. We both picked up roving, generally enjoyed fondling things, and got intimidated by the idea of real (chemical) dyes. I bought 8 oz. of natural colored merino, which I will dye eventually, plus a couple of ounces each of navy Corriedale and purple merino/tencel. I've been wanting to try tencel for awhile, since I really enjoy wearing it. Of course, I don't have enough to make anything wearable with whatever I spin; I'll consider that commitment down the road. Less than $20 for 12 ounces of wool, which will make a sweater's worth of yarn. I love spinning.
After a lunch break to refresh and re-energize, we headed over to Knit Happens, which is spacious and bright and full of fabulous people. I appreciate the amount of space they have, for sitting, for looking around, and for displaying the yarns. The book selection was good, as was the yarn selection, and we quite enjoyed the armchairs. I only wish it were a little closer.
Came back to my house and did some easter egg dye coloring (over-dyeing some very kool-aid red roving, and some white), wound up a bunch of mohair/nylon/wool boucle (I think it'll be a shawl someday), and watched Paula spin for a bit. I'm not sure what I think about easter egg dyes. I'm guessing my dye-vinegar-water ratios were off, because the dye wasn't sticking very well. I think I microwaved 4 oz of Border Leicester for about half an hour (in 2 minute increments) before it was even starting to take the dye. We'll see how it spins up. I do like the colors a lot better than kool-aid, though.
I'm in the home stretch on my socks, and 8" into my tank sweater. We rented LOTR: Return of the King, which should give me a few good hours of knittable television time.
After a lunch break to refresh and re-energize, we headed over to Knit Happens, which is spacious and bright and full of fabulous people. I appreciate the amount of space they have, for sitting, for looking around, and for displaying the yarns. The book selection was good, as was the yarn selection, and we quite enjoyed the armchairs. I only wish it were a little closer.
Came back to my house and did some easter egg dye coloring (over-dyeing some very kool-aid red roving, and some white), wound up a bunch of mohair/nylon/wool boucle (I think it'll be a shawl someday), and watched Paula spin for a bit. I'm not sure what I think about easter egg dyes. I'm guessing my dye-vinegar-water ratios were off, because the dye wasn't sticking very well. I think I microwaved 4 oz of Border Leicester for about half an hour (in 2 minute increments) before it was even starting to take the dye. We'll see how it spins up. I do like the colors a lot better than kool-aid, though.
I'm in the home stretch on my socks, and 8" into my tank sweater. We rented LOTR: Return of the King, which should give me a few good hours of knittable television time.
