It's a Good Day to Dye

On Tuesday, I imposed upon my friend, Carol S., to help me dye some of my handspun yarns.  I had four skeins:  three that I’d spun from Lizzy’s fleece (from 2011), and one that I’d spun from a Cormo wool – alpaca blended roving.

Lizzy is a sheep who lives in Duluth, and she’s a mixed breed:  Romney, Corriedale, Suffolk, and Ile de France.  Her wool is not very soft, but it is incredibly elastic.  Perfect for socks.  The Cormo-alpaca roving I got from my friend Joanne Dufour.  She raises alpacas.  And she’d blended some of her alpaca with a particularly special Cormo wool.  See my blog entry about it, June 23, 2010.  This yarn is yummy soft.

Before I went over to Carol’s, I wound the Cormo-alpaca skein into a 4-yard loop.  I wound the Lizzy skeins into 1 ½ yard loops.

Now, Carol is a marvelous dyer.  And she has an impressive dye studio.  And, well, I’m a color dunce.  So, I really really needed her guidance in dyeing.  I had some color ideas, but I did not have any of the technical know-how.  Thank goodness for Carol!  

Here are pictures of the process (not necessarily in order):

That last picture is of Carol.

In exchange for her help in dyeing my yarns, Carol requested that I make a particular garlic-cheese spread that she especially likes.  Ingredients:  butter, olive oil, crushed garlic, grated mozzarella, grated parmesan, chopped fresh basil, maybe some oregano, salt, pepper, and sriracha sauce.  Spread it on slices of good bread and put in a hot oven for about 10 minutes.  Yum!