the spoils

I have so much to share - from a really busy, yet lovely few days - that I am going to have to break it up a bit into several posts. Since I'm feeling a little remiss about the lack of hooking posts lately, I'm starting off with the snaps of the weekend's worth of dyeing.

My mum came down on Friday to be my Dyeing Dog (filling and heating the kettle, moving wool from pots to cooling lids, to rinsing and wringing), and she was an awesome help. While dyeing with two people in my little kitchen isn't quite twice as fast as going solo, it's definitely a lot more fun and less stressful. By the time she headed home with 'three bins full', we had dyed about 80 skeins of slub! Since I don't have a washer at my place, she took it all home with her to spin out and then hang to dry up on their deck. I kept dyeing and managed to rack up another 15 or so skeins, spinning each one out in my trusty salad spinner....and then set about cleaning up the mess.

(Note: the skeins were all pulled backwards for the photo, but they spent most of there time on the outside of the railing)

Placing all of the skeins onto these long weaving sticks was a great, evolutionary step (thanks Mum!). Not only did it reduce the number of times we had to play "go down and find the skein" in the yard, on the driveway or down in the field...but it also made bring them in and out at night (they weren't quite dry) a lot easier, and there was little need for rotating or shifting the skeins around to dry. Wonderful!


By the time I arrived at lunchtime on Saturday, the skeins were mostly dry, but we left them out for a few more hours anyway. Just to admire, and give them a little more bouncy breeze.

I started dividing them up into braids in the late afternoon.....and the process continued (with a few interruptions) for almost a full 24 hours, finishing yesterday afternoon. And then it was time to play....


First I hauled a box out onto the deck and dumped it out (above), and then I sat and quickly arranged the skeins in colour order. Since I was a young child, I've always liked to arrange things in order (markers, crayons, pencils, etc. - nothing was safe!)


Not a bad haul for a couple of days work. I have about 45-50 skeins still to dye up....but that shouldn't take too long - especially if I can recruit some help again.... :-D

P.S. If you're counting I think there are only 92 braids in the photos. 3 skeins were rejects that need another turn in the dye bath....and 1 is AWOL.

I blew my diet in a big way...

....my wool diet, that is! ;-) Late last Fall when I was at Dorr, I picked out just a little bit of wool and arranged to have it shipped, along with an open roll of rug warp. My sister kindly picked it up for me when she was down in the city earlier this week, and I've been having fun unpacking it all.


Some will be washed to use 'as is' and the rest will be dyed eventually. In fact, seeing it all together at once kinda makes me feel like calling in sick for a couple of days and having a big dye daze. But alas, I am heading north tomorrow for a coin purse workshop, so maybe dyeing will have to wait for a week or two before I can break into the bolts.

Speaking of bolts, up until now I've always bought my rug warp by the bolt.....but this time around I bought an 'open roll' (56 yards, I think). I am really looking forward to having it all be nice and straight (and not skewed like it gets when it's folded in half and wound onto the cardboard into a bolt) -- once I find a place to store it, that is! (it's 60+ inches long) For now, it's keeping Jumbo company - and I have two elephants in my living room! Hopefully I will be able to make room to hide them somewhere.....and soon!

a little buying binge

Some of you might recall that I put myself on a wool buying diet at the start of the year. For the full year, I would endeavour to not buy any wool yardage. I was/am feeling like I already have enough for now.....and seemed to be accumulating it at a much faster pace than I use it.

I've been able to live up to my personal pledge, up until last Tuesday. Yes a few pieces of wool have snuck in throughout the year....but always as a prize or gift. Of course, wool yard does not count! ;-)

Already on a bit of a shopping high following our visit to Passionknit, I just couldn't resist picking up a couple of pieces of wool when we stopped at Martina's.


The wool on the left is called "Tomato Soup" and it's a very worthy name -- not just because of the colour, but because of the feel of the wool: it's snuggle-soft and comforting. I just know that this is the sort of wool that you can never have enough of......and I will be wanting more long after it's all hooked up.

The other two wools are not quite as soft, but the colour is wonderful. The middle one is a beautiful green with hint of blue....and the autumn plaid will be wonderful for Fall. It reminds me of a scrap I had once and used up quickly.

When I first started hooking, I was encouraged to buy wool in 1 yard or 3 yard pieces (sufficient for a background). I don't subscribe to those "rules" any more. I would rather have several smaller pieces than one big piece, any day -- there is always more beautiful wool to be discovered.

Usually I will buy just 1/4 yard or 1/2 yard pieces of wool and I generally only buy 1 or 2 yard pieces when the wool is truly wonderful -- the feel, the feltedness, the colour, the weave, and the price are all perfect. Since it can be so difficult to predict how a wool will wash up, it's better to be left wanting more than to be left with a pile of wool you can't/won't hook with. Bolts are really just reserved for known staples, like oatmeal and natural or a neutral herringbone.

While I am a little bummed that I binged on my wool diet, I have to be honest and admit that I'm surprised I managed to hold out for eight and a half months. Plus, I will soon be heading down to Dorr, so I can just regard this little blip as a warm-up....and keep my fingers crossed that it's taken the edge off so I won't go totally crazy when I'm there. Who am I kidding? ;-)

madness due to my methods

I've been reminded (again!) of how important it is to make notes on your methods. They don't have to be onerous or detailed or even neat....but they are only helpful if they exist. If they're all just stored in your over-used and over-capacity brain, they're pretty much useless. And so are you, because you can't remember what you did last time (several months before). Or at least how you did it.

This pretty much sums up my dye day on Sunday. Too much time was spent figuring it all out again and re-learning what I'd finally realized worked the best. Sometimes when this happens I'm lucky enough to discover and new and improved way of doing things....but mostly, it's just an exercise in frustration, as it was this weekend.

All was not lost, though....I did end up with a pile of pretty wool -- but more importantly, I've made my notes to help me pick up right where I've left off, the next time. Learning the hard way is still learning, right? ;-)

new and improved

Over the years I've used a few different methods of storing and organizing my wool strips. They have evolved from zip lock bags (too awkward), to little baskets (too small), to cloth bins (too flimsy), and finally to shoe boxes (shoe storage bins, actually).

Last Fall at her studio, I noticed that Martina used large lettuce/salad containers to hold her strips and I immediately thought this might be the solution I've been needing (my cloth bins were flopping all over the place and the resulting Pisas were quite precarious - and had tumbled more than once!). I figured I would start eating more salad....and hoped that before long I'd have enough. It wasn't quite that easy. I needed a lot of bins.

Fortuitously, the big snow storm just before Christmas brought me to $@##-*@^% (yes, that big box store I try to avoid at all costs...sorry world!) and while I was there I looked for some alternative storage bins. I quickly found - and decided to buy - a bunch of the shoe bins. Why? They are light weight, but with sturdy sides - and lids! I can easily stack them without worrying about the emptier ones getting smooshed. They were only $1.19 each (or thereabouts). I can see what colour is inside, so I can quickly find the bin I'm looking for without having to look inside 12 others first. And, they hold a reasonable amount of wool. So far, the only complaint I have is that I wish I'd bought more!

New Year's Giveaway

I've been thinking of what resolutions I'll be adopting this year, if any.....and so far the only one I've come up with is not to buy any wool cloth for a year. I'm sure vendors everywhere are cringing at the thought....but I really do have a huge supply right now. In fact, I probably have enough wool to last me the rest of my life (and not because it's all so ugly that I would stop hooking, either - it's great wool, there is just soooooo much of it).

The truth is that I've been buying and acquiring more wool that I've been using, and the supply is exceeding the demand. Apart from the first year or so when I had no stash to speak of....I've added to my shelves every year since I started hooking 10 years ago. To further add to the already plentiful stash, I received a tremendous amount of wool from AJ when she cleaned out her wool closet this Fall. Now I really have no more room in my little place for any additional piles of wool. I have way too much stuff, and I need to use it - or lose it!

I'm going to dye and I'm going to hook....and hook....and hook, with more of the wool I've already got. My challenge will be to work with what I have (which really shouldn't be too hard, given the selection and variety available to choose from). The past year has been busy, and I'm really looking forward to spending time at home, alone with my hook and frame, just creating. My list of ideas is long...and I can't wait to get started (just as soon as I recharge my batteries for a little bit longer, over the next few days).

What are your resolutions for the new year? Share one with me in the comments - and let me know what is missing from your stash. I will randomly pick winners early in the new year, and I will happily share some of my stash with the luckiest ones....

P.S. The photo above is an old one -- it would take me almost all day to assemble the whole stash in the same room....then I'd probably need to get a special lens just to fit it all in one frame! Just let me know what colour of wool you really need...and I will do my best to help supplement your stash.