Real Weaving (and more)

While my 4-shaft loom is residing among the boxes in my basement I got out my old "Weave-it" loom. I believe this one belonged to my Grandmother (although I could be wrong). I started using it a few years ago before I got my "big" loom, but haven't done much with it recently. The wool in these samples is all handspun and hand-dyed of varying weights. The poor scraggly thing in the upper right corner is a newly spun single that has not had the twist set. The pinks and yellows were all dyed with "Kool-aid" type drink mixes. The blue/yellow ones were dyed with food coloring.



The second picture is my "pretties"--these were all dyed with acid dyes. I did one batch in my new-to-me dyeing crockpot and one batch in my stainless steel dyepot. Of the four rovings only one came out as expected. The rest are miraculous mistakes! I layered the rovings in the dye pots and added concentrated dye solution to each layer. Once all the layers were in place, I added a vinegar/water solution and let the pot simmer for about an hour. I thought that the dyes would strike quickly and not turn the dye pot into an immersion dyeing session.

I was wrong! However, the dark rovings (both the purple on the right and the green in the back/left) have amazing variations in color! They are not a single solid color, like from a regular immersion dye pot, but blue/black/purple (or green). They looked so beautiful drying in the sunshine! The big question is now can I give these up for sale on my etsy shop? Hmm. I'm not sure. The purple is gorgeous. It might not leave the house. But the green is the color of my old and well loved crewneck sweater. Dooh! Dyer's Dilemma!