I spent all day Saturday and all day Sunday in what was the cafeteria of an elementary school that is now a Community Center, at a dyeing workshop. They are doing some great things there; there is a huge community garden out back, a little library, all kinds of studio space, too.
Actually, I spent a good deal of Friday there, too; I was on hand to help set up, which meant covering the entire floor of that cafeteria with sections of what used to be, apparently, a gigantic plastic banner that hung down the side of a building and was cut up for painting, dyeing, etc. workshops. Plus covering every imaginable surface, and some I hadn't, with painters' drop plastic, which comes in a roll à la plastic wrap.
Above, some of my skeins, photographed atop my work.
My table partner dyeing her skein; mine is to the right. Both of us felt very tired after all of this, and I was under the weather yesterday. Dyes are quite toxic, and Lynne, our instructor, is very sensitive to the fumes. She had to absent herself from they dyeing room for a while. Interesting that this is what she does, but has to work around heightened sensitivity.
My dyeing partner also brought me a gallon of milk from her cow and a pound of butter she made! The butter is delicious; the milk I'm going to use to make another attempt at cheese.
Fleece set out to drye.
Our instructor, Lynne Vogel, giving a spinning demonstration. I haven't been at my wheel for months, so I am still very much a novice . . .
A bunch of stuff I dyed, hanging up out of reach of Bear and Soul. We did a couple of silk scarves, which was fun, as we just dribbled the dye over them.
Close up of spinning . . .
I don't think I'll be dyeing much on my own, but P had put a deep sink down at the studio for dyeing, so perhaps I'll have more done. I did get a large hunk of mohair bouclé to do something with, but I might use Koolaid (which, by the way, has some surprising stuff in it; you may want to rethink ingesting it).
