Cirque du Sabraset

I woke up this morning wondering why my neck and shoulders were so stiff, and why was my wrist throbbing? Getting up to pour a cup of coffee, my ankles complained that they would prefer to lie down again. As I let the sweet seduction of caffeine permeate my ailing body I began to recall what had happened. I had dyed and gone to Heaven with my friends.

It was no ordinary day of soul ascension, nor was it an ordinary day of dyeing-- unless, that is, you can describe your typical dyeing day as replete with singing, dancing, instrumental accompaniment and storytelling....hmmmmm?

Before Kit and Dye-Ann arrived, I managed to divert my attention from being too fastidious with the housecleaning by making up a couple of worksheets for us to use. This is mainly for my benefit, because I tend to forget the formulas when other people are around distracting me with witty comments. By using the worksheet I managed to get the number of times I said "no... that can't be right... oh! this is how you do it..." down to below a dozen.

One sheet contained all of Deb Menz's formulas for Sabraset dyes that are published in her book Color In Spinning. The other contained step by step help in figuring out how much dye formula to make up for the intended fiber, how much of each stock color to put in the dye cup to make up that solution, and how much water, vinegar and sodium acetate to add.

I can't give you the color formulas, because they are Deb's (you can purchase the book, though, since it has been reprinted!) but I can give you my worksheet and hope it might push you over the edge (so to speak) so that you will dye, too. It will make a whole lot more sense if you buy the book.

Amidst all of our color wheel contemplations, book consultations, worksheet figuring, 3% stock solution preparation (to add to our 2% stock solutions), dye formula mixing and painting, I had neither time nor memory to take pictures, I am sorry to say. You will have to imagine us as we were-- outdoors in beautiful weather taking advantage of the big glass patio table while the dogs in their kennel barked their approval and the birds made frequent fly-bys to check on our progress, probably hoping to take away a few souvenirs with which to line their nests.

We took a slightly different approach to the dyeing this time, in two ways. First, rather than adding the vinegar to the soaking water, we used Synthrapol in the water and added the vinegar to the dye solution as Deb Menz describes. Also, we added sodium acetate to the dye solution, which is supposed to intensify the colors.

I have to admit that when we were through painting our rovings we were a bit disappointed. Kit's yellow-orange looked like mud, mine looked like manure. All of our colors looked rather dull and uninteresting. I took the blame, thinking it must be the change of the vinegar and/or the addition of the sodium acetate.

We rolled up our creations in plastic, turned Mr. Westinghouse on, and made ourselves some martinis. While our dyes steamed, my beautiful Baldwin piano got more attention than he has had, well, ever. With either Dye-Ann or myself playing, all of us sang from the big Reader's Digest book of old favorites-- Mack the Knife, I Get A Kick Out Of You, The Band Played On... and many, many others. I can't wait to hear what Mrs. Cravitz has to say about this! I am quite sure we could be heard throughout the neighborhood and possibly even in Denver. We didn't care. We were pretty damn good, if I do say so myself.

The singing must have provided the needed magic for the dyeing, because when we removed our finished art from Mr. Westinghouse, our mouths fell open (and no melody issued forth). They were drop-dead gorgeous!

While they dried in the dryer, we let Grazzi (the German Shepherd) and Harvey (the Standard Poodle) into the Parlor to play. It is springtime, and Sherlock the little poodle believes he is required to hump anything with four legs. So there we were, one of us throwing a ball for Harvey, who ran back and forth with it; one of us throwing a ball for Grazzi, who while pursuing that one would have collided with Harvey at odd moments except that Harvey regarded her as a jumper's hurdle and negotiated the challenge with ease; and one of us (a small poodle) clinging to Grazzi's hind leg and just taking a ride. I could almost imagine a bunch of little boys watching this with great pleasure while eating popcorn.

Somehow during all this invigorating activity, one of us ended up with a bleeding forearm (nothing to worry about, a small scratch) and an unfastened bra (I have NO clue how that happened) while another of us was telling the story of the Little House on the Prairie and yet another was kept busy disentangling wayward balls of yarns from around active canine legs.

By the time our fiber was dry, our eyes, as a result of all the laughter, were not.

Diane got to work carding up some of her re-dyed Romney, a beautiful mixture of pinks and greens and blues and red. Kit did nothing but admire her four gorgeous pieces of rovings that she will later spin together and make appreciative comments about all the results. And I? I stripped off thin strips of each of my six colors, drafted them togther and then spindle-spun them. As I put the spindle on the table to rest for a moment, it just happened to lay beside another ball of yarn I had been knitting with. I realized with a shock what I had done.

I had made.... Koigu.

Next act?

Posted by Sheila at March 12, 2005 09:24 AM Posted to Dyeing | TrackBack