all dyed

All 8,000 yards are dyed and dried and ready to be wound off onto the spools. Eventually. I'm warping the big loom for a rug as a reward for completing the above task.

I failed to tell of the (almost) dye disaster. I had just enough dye to dye 4,000 yards of each color. I haven't dyed vast quantities on the stove in a long time so it took some sleuth work to find my trusty big pot. Mr. Princess often (always) takes my stuff because I'm fairly organized and it's easier to pilfer from me than for him to go looking for his own stuff. Lord only knows what he used my pot for. Probably seating near the wood stove in the basement. But I found it, washed it up and put it on the stove in the kitchen. I tossed in several cups of salt, some boiling water and 3.7lt of dye stock. Stir, stir, stir. Turned on the heat and began filling up the bucket with water. I added one bucket full and filled up the next. While adding the next bucket I saw dye on the (glass) stove. I grabbed some paper towels and began wiping up. The more I wiped the more dye appeared and suddenly, whosh, a LOT of dye. A hole in the pot! I started bailing dye from the pot BECAUSE I HAVE JUST ENOUGH DYE FOR THE PROJECT! There was no way to calculate how much dye was lost and how diluted it was. After resuming breathing I found a smaller pot, added less water and started again. Luckily all 4,000 yards appear the same purple color. No more disasters and the dyeing is done. Though photos would have been amusing, clean up and dye saving was more important. Lesson: always hold the pot up to the sun and look for holes. Amen and amen.

8,000 yards of chenille

I pulled this alpaca/silk scarf off the loom several weeks ago. I need to twist the fringe (ugly story) and wet finish it.
As I was cutting the warp off the loom I got distracted and cut about 1/3 shorter than I should have. This should be fun stuff to twist and to knot. Not!

Sorry, but Penelope should have been the final photo. Here she is with one of her 2 kids and a few chicks on her back. She is a conveyance at that moment.

Damn! Blogger won't let me rearrange the photos today.

I've wound off 8,ooo yards of chenille and have dyed 4,000 yards thus far. To the left is a photo from Handwoven, issue 132, of a shadow weave shawl. I'm using this pattern to make a chenille throw, approximately 60x80. It's really more of a blanket.

Here is an overall view, albeit a crappy picture.

These are the colors I am dyeing.

When the dyeing is complete, I'll wind the yardage onto spools. . .

40 freakin' spools, and hope I wind sufficient yardage onto each. My main problem is that my clock reel is not adjustable and I know that the hanks will have shrunk. I'm still unsure of how I will transfer the 200 yard hanks to the spools. Once that is complete, I will check myself into a mental hospital for about five years. Please write.