Natural Dyes and Spinning for Sock Makers
Well, I turned twenty-something for the last time in my life last Wednesday and to celebrate, I took off to Salt Spring Island for their annual fibre festival on Thursday morning. Look how I got there… float plane!
The flight is only 30 minutes and the view is breathtaking. I don’t think I ever want to travel by ferry again.
The “Natural Dyes and Spinning for Sock Makers” workshop started at 10 am on Thursday morning and was taught by Diane Bentley-Baker. She’s been spinning for over 30 years and has her certificate of handspinning excellence. Fantastic experience and you can easily see how passionate she is about natural dyes.
There was only one other student in the workshop with me (thankfully the workshop wasn’t cancelled), Cheryl, a local Salt Spring Island resident who is also a long-time spinner, weaver and dyer. In fact, she is one of the dyers for Treenway Silks! I was just so happy and lucky to spend time with such knowledgeable people…
We spent all day dyeing some raw Cormo fleece, brown roving, mohair locks and KnitPicks dye-your-own sock yarn in either tumeric (yellow), sandalwood (salmon/coral), and black walnut (brown). Friday morning, we also dyed more fleece and yarn with onion skins (apricot), Earthues’ Poppy mix (rust/orange), and indigo (blue). We overdyed some of the material with indigo to make greens.
Dyeing can get very addictive… all those pretty colours. The next thing I’d like to try is cochineal to make some pinks and purples. Off to Maiwa Supplies to get some of these dead bugs!
Tags: Salt Spring Island
I love the colors of natural dyes. Some might call them drab, but I think they are so pretty! What a great class.
Stunning colors! I love the look of natural dyes.
The yarn and fiber is beautiful. I just took my first dyeing class with unnatural dyes. Dyeing is extremely fun and I could see how natural dyes would be very fun too.
Happy Birthday! Beautiful colors.
Happy Birthday, Felicia! What a fun trip - the light in the harbor pic is beautiful. You did a great job on your yarns. If you’d like to see my dyeing experiments with natural materials, they’re at:
http://home.earthlink.net/~jeffnstasia/dye.htm
Scroll down for the cochineal.
I LOVE your dying and spinning photos and postings- I am so inspired by your knitting too!
What an amazing workshop! I look forward to seeing more of your dyeing experiments.
That’s what I call a grand day out! O I wish I could have been somewhere around… Your blog is really beautiful and the photographs a delight to look at. Happy Birthday you talented girl!!
Ah, I love dyeing. I wish I had a local source for dyes but alas, there’s nothing in this barren wasteland. I love seeing your progress though. Thanks for sharing
Tanya
Happy Happy Birthday!! You can be 29 forever if you want. No one will be able to tell that you are not…
What a beautiful entry. I’m a newcomer to your blog and a fellow Leo and really enjoying…all of it.
Great colors! I love the natural dyes!