O halp, I'm dyeing!

Today I went to a natural dyeing party out in LaGrange, which is only about a ten minute drive from town. We set up in front of this funky house:


and started off putting our undyed skeins in mordant; some people used copper, and I put mine in alum.


While we waited for the mordant to set into the yarn, we took a break for lunch and touring the barn, where we met some very dirty sheep and a goat that felt the need to inform us of his unhappiness every 30 seconds.


There were also a bunch of swallows and several very attention-hungry barn cats.


After lunch, we set about putting the yarn in the dye pots. We used lichen, red sandalwood, and onion skins, which gave a range of browns and reds.


By the time I got to my yarn, the dye had pretty much exhausted in the sandalwood bath - it yielded a dusty pink color instead of this brighter pink. We'll see how it washes out tomorrow!


We got there around 9 am and left a little before 2:30 - and not before a lot of tasty dessert and a little bit of napping. All in all, a good day to dye. (lolz.)