Jason Knits

Yesterday was a beautiful day for outdoor fun. A perfect day for Dye Fest. Sitting under the trees on a bright sunny day, carding and chitchatting away. I could almost take a nap, too. Thanks to Garen, who opens up her home to host Dye Fest year after year. (She has a beautiful, spacious American Craftsman Style home with lots of big trees outside.) I don’t know how she does it. I would be a nervous wreck!

Unfortunately, the mini dye classes didn’t happen. That didn’t stop the fun, though. There were dye already mixed. There were steaming baskets and dye pots, both natural and chemical. And there were plenty of experts there. People just went at it. I ended up not doing any dyeing at all. (Yes Chris, that means the Shetland and BFL are safe. ) I wanted to do a more controlled experiment and thought I’d take up too much time and space. So, I just watched and tried to pick up as many ideas as I could. I also spent a lot of time carding cotton.

Not sure if I mentioned this. I was given bags and bags of unginned cotton about a year ago. I took some to Garen’s house to try carding them. The carding went well. I was beginning to get the feel for it. But I think I might have to let go of the cotton that I have. It’s filled with bits and pieces of crushed cotton bur. My guess is that it was machine harvested and the burs were crushed in the process. Carding did not take them out. I had to pick them out by hand a little bit at a time. Too time consuming. They may fall off when spun. But I think I’ll just get more CLEAN cotton to play with. I really do enjoy carding and making punis. One day I’ll have some cotton plants, too. Here’s a photo of the punis I made. Note the dirty bits:

I’ll be looking for takli spindles to buy. I tried spinning cotton with a small support spindle. Taklis will make plying easier. Just need to have something that will hold several spindles. I think I know just the person to ask to make one.

Below are some photos of Dye Fest. More can be found here.