The current step in my increasingly involved little excursions into the mad, mad world of fibre dyeing involves dyeing various sorts of commercially prepared top. I’m not too concerned with colours just now, but am focussing on such details as:

• how the various fibres handle when dry
• how they handle when wet
• how long it takes them to get really wet
• any particular skills or techniques needed to manipulate them
• how they felt (or preferably don’t)
• their basic handle or feel
• how they resulting dyed fibres spin up
• techniques for distributing dye over the fibres and steaming the dyeing strips

To that end, my results have been highly varied. I’ve been keeping a binder of detailed notes, but here are a few photos to keep you going:

Setup for dyeing Wensleydale top, a long-staple, strong fibre. Started with this as it was least likely to fall apart on me on the first go.

Soaking in cold water:

Drying:

Dried:

Drafted:

Spinning:

More drying dyed pieces:

Falkland and Blue-Face Leicester, drying:

Superwash Merino (looks like nothing at all when wet, but fluffs right back up beautifully):

a quickr pickr post