Sunday, June 28, 2009

more dyed fiber

So there hasn't been to much news on the crafting front since I last posted however I did dye some fiber a while back that I didnt get a chance to post yet. I bought some BFL from Mielke's Fiber Arts and went to town dying it right before memorial day. I needed a nice green fiber I could ply together with the dark green BFL I was spinning. So I dyed up about 3 oz of BFL using lime jello and neon green Mccormick food coloring that I picked up at the grocery store. It came out exactly how I wanted it. When held up next to the previous green it looked great together. I cant wait to spin it and ply the greens together.
After dying the green I decided to try out some Wilton's food coloring and dye up some BFL in pink, orange, and violet. I was in the middle of putting a swap together and my swap partner recently started spinning so for an extra little gift I wanted to send her some roving in her favorite colors. Since I didn't have her first choice I went with her second which was autumn colors. This batch of fiber came out extremely vibrant and very lovely. I will have to use the Wilton's more often. My swap partner loved it! I even have some left over to spin up for a small project. I actually have a lighter orange,pink, purple merino fiber I dyed with jello and koolaid that might look really nice plyed with the vibrant wiltons version.

I finally got my wheel back fixed and it works amazing! Such a small thing made a huge difference. I also received some more fiber and another bobbin with the wheel when it came back. I asked Jan (the owner of Heavenly handspinning) if she cold send me a little joe spindle as well instead of reimbursing my shipping. I just love those spindles. They spin like a breeze and look great! Now i have an extra bobbin for my wheel and an extra spindle! I am almost done spinning the fiber that came with my wheel. I want to finish it today and then eventually I'll spin up some natural colored fiber to ply with it. The fiber that came with the wheel is a blend of turquoise, black, and white. I didn't have enough white to use though so I only spun the black and turquoise up. I am finally getting the hang of my wheel. I can get into the groove and stay there for a while now before losing it. One day I will find my sweet spot and then I wont have to worry about losing that groove. Yesterday I stained my wheel and it came out fabulous. It's pretty much all dry except for the bottom. The weather here has been very damp so the bottom stayed wet longer. I now have my wheel laying on its side so the bottom can air out. If all goes well I should be able to use it this after noon.

For those of you wondering I am finally settling in nicely at my new job. It has its up and downs of course and I am still learning the kids and trying to figure out what motivates them and how much they can take. Their programs are becoming more familiar and when I work with I'm feeling more comfortable with what I'm doing and gaining a bit more confidence. Last week we took the kids to the Science Museum. It was alot of fun but also alot of work. We took extra teachers so that we would each only have to work with one kid instead of two, thank god! I would have been pulling my hair out if I had to watch two kids, one was enough that's for sure! Next month we are going to see if we can take the kids out for ice cream and then in August we have a field trip planed to go to a farm. I am really looking forward to going to the farm. It should be alot of fun and I think it will engage our children more then the Science Museum did.

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