Dye, You Turn Me

My world is upside down and I am questioning my place here. All this time I have been thinking I was the crunchy earth mother type, all-natural, preferring the world as it was originally made rather than how someone has manipulated and manicured it and wham! All of a sudden I want to put chemical dye on everything.

Remember the results of dyeing roving day? Sure, I liked them but the colors were, at first glance, somewhat garish, and I longed to go back to the God-given naturally heathered fleece of my lovely sheep.

Yet once I spun and plied them, they were beautiful. They went from colorways named “Summer of Love” and “Tie Dye” to “Desert Sunset” and “Seaside.” As Pioneer Woman says, I wanted to marry them and have their babies. (“My child, what a hairy back you have.” “The better to supply you with yarn, my mother.”)

I mean look!

And look!

Suddenly, color combinations are going through my head like moving-somewhere-cooler fantasies. I gaze at the landscape, looking for inspiration. I think about other landscapes, flower gardens, rock striations, fabric patterns and I’m once again obsessed.

Our minimum of white sheep (as in a total of one) will keep me in check, I’m afraid, on this one. No grass pasture = all hay trucked in = too much money spent on something definitely unprofitable = no more sheep for ewe. I don’t know how real shepherds do it. Actually, from what I’ve studied, most don’t, they supplement their income with outside jobs. The ones who do make a profit have very selective breeding programs and send the lambs with less than perfect fleece to market (and not to buy a loaf of bread). I can’t even eat a lamb chop much less send a poor wee lamb to slaughter.

So for now, I will fantasize about infinitesimal color combinations and when the desire for color grabs too huge a hold on me, I might accidentally wander over to Ebay and see if someone is selling some Merino or Rambouillet or Corriedale or Blue-Faced Leicester or Cheviot. Any soft, white, dyeable fleece with good crimp will do, thank you.

Comments

[Melanie]

Lauren, you probably already know this, but don't shy away from dyeing the darker wool. There you can satisfy your urge to use bright colors, and still get neat, muted and mellow effects.

(From another dye junkie...)

[Carrie]

It's addicting, it is. Plus, if you were to have a silvery-fleeced sheep, you could blend all those natural colors, AND have a whole new range of dyeables. Just sayin', is all. (BTW, BRING ON the color. Flowers shouldn't get to have all the fun.)

[Beth in WI]

So you're saying, I have to raise white sheep? I guess someone has to. As much as I say I want to work with the natural colors, I probably wouldn't wear a whole bunch of brown sweaters.

There's a daylong seminar for new shepherds at the WI S&W. If I get to go, I'll take notes for you!

[Beth T]

No sheep, no yarn, no pointy sticks here. But color? YES. Your yarns are so beautiful! There used to be a yarn store in a town near here. It was a favorite winter stop years ago. You could walk in there out of the snow and go nuts over the yarns stacked to the ceiling like stained glass windows. Go for the color. It's gorgeous!

[Kathy]

My Farm Management professor started lecture the very first day with, "If you want to make money raising livestock, first...go get yourself a good paying job."
There it was...balls-out truth! Many times has that entered my head.

And Melanie is right...you CAN overdye the lighter wools even if they are grey! You can get some bee-you-tea-full colors from overdyeing...they are just a bit "saddened", that's all.

How are you holding up in the heat? I'm sure it flares you up like it does me. Just take it easy and keep cool in the a/c, if you can, Lauren.

Oh, drat! There are the elk again! Seven this time...now where did I put my flip-flops and the big noisy trash bag? ;)

[Karalyn]

All I can say is you guys have WAY more fun than I do --- or so it seems. And I'm all for color --- the more the better. It's beautiful and sensual and warm and sends your mind on trips you never thought you'd take. I should think coloring darker wool would just increase the color ranges --- but hey, I don't raise sheep so what would I know!

They are beautiful --- hope you get lots of knitting done while hiding from "The Door" and staying in the AC!

[Michelle]

I saw the most gorgeous deep red heathery Shetland yarn at OFFF last year; it was over-dyed BLACK fleece! Lauren, dear, your fun has just begun.... :-)