Finally finishing this up. It's been a busy year.

Dyer's Broom yellow, in progress.

Dyer's Broom yellow, in progress.

Still in tidy-up mode. Very reluctantly, I’ve added one of my favourite ongoing spinning projects to Etsy: recycled sari silk sourced from Fibrehut, currently in purple, red and gold colourways. I have blue on my spindle right now; it may end up on Etsy too, if I don’t get a tableloom before anyone clears me out of this.

Let me know if you’re interested and have any questions.

Well, this is definitely yellow. 225% dyestuff to alum-mordanted wool. I think we conclude that these are the sort of proportions you need to get a decent yellow out of dry dyestuff. I'm pretty satisfied.

Dyeing to meet the new year. Happy 2023! It's dyer's broom. I have hopes that if I use enough of it I may get the strong, true yellow of my dreams.

Dyeing to meet the new year. Happy 2023! It's dyer's broom. I have hopes that if I use enough of it I may get the strong, true yellow of my dreams.

Three new Etsy listings:

Lockdown Blues, a Romney/bamboo blend hand-dyed with indigo

Baby Alpaca, single-ply baby alpaca in natural shades (grey, fawn and chocolate brown)

Viking Varieties, four samples of Scandinavian breeds (note: only one 50g skein of Gotland currently available, but I liked it so much I have another 300g stashed away to be spun)

Things I have done during lockdown. Includes alpaca, recycled sari silk, various wool samples and a lot of bad TV. The blue is a Romney/bamboo blend I discovered in my yarn coffer, spun but undyed, and decided to use up some indigo on; I had to unbind all three skeins to do it and ended up spending a week unknotting and reskeining one of them. Currently I have more recycled silk and a stash of Suffolk and Gotland waiting to be spun. And I really need to list some of these, especially the alpaca, which is lush.

Meanwhile, for anyone in the UK looking for cute handmade facemasks, my friend has been making them for neighbours and family and now also for Etsy. Go right here!

Things I have done during lockdown. Includes alpaca, recycled sari silk, various wool samples and a lot of bad TV. The blue is a Romney/bamboo blend I discovered in my yarn coffer, spun but undyed, and decided to use up some indigo on; I had to unbind all three skeins to do it and ended up spending a week unknotting and reskeining one of them. Currently I have more recycled silk and a stash of Suffolk and Gotland waiting to be spun. And I really need to list some of these, especially the alpaca, which is lush.

Meanwhile, for anyone in the UK looking for cute handmade facemasks, my friend has been making them for neighbours and family and now also for Etsy. Go right here!

Yes! I am finally back on the recycled sari silk!

First time spinning silk on the wheel. I always thought it would be less controlled than the spindle, and perhaps it is, a bit, but also it means not having to deal with the spindle weight. Also that spindle is coming apart in so many ways and I really need a new one. This is mulberry silk, in any case, and I don't plan to dye it. It's going well.

Exmoor Copper | 2 ply handspun, hand-dyed wool starting from £8.50/40g skein. Exmoor Blueface wool dyed with barberry bark + copper mordant.

New Etsy listing!

Bluefaced Humbug | 4 skeins of 2-ply natural humbug Bluefaced Leicester

New Etsy listing!

Sunshine | 2-ply merino dyed with barberry bark + alum (£12)

New Etsy listing!

So of course the one thing you really need to photograph yellow is a sunny day. Here are my recent yellows! No filters at all. In order: turmeric (merino); barberry bark + alum (merino); barberry bark + copper (Exmoor blue).

I did all the rest of my copper mordant yarn in the barberry bark dyebath. It turned out exactly as bright as the first bath. There was still so much colour in the bath I unearthed some random undyed hanks and did them with an alum mordant - and the yellow is too bright and wonderful for my phone to appreciate and there was STILL COLOUR in the pan afterwards - but I have nothing left to dye with it, and a house move coming up at the end of the month, so I tipped it out. Now I'm spinning a lush Christmas present merino/silk blend.

Bah, humbug! A bunch of Bluefaced Leicester and a new wheel band to keep me going. I wonder what this would look like if I dyed it with the end of the barberry bark?

Barberry bark: SIGNIFICANTLY yellower than expected. I was expecting green! It's actually turned out a vivid kind of autumn colour with gold overtones and olive undertones, and there was so much yellow left in the dyebath I decided to do the rest of my copper mordant wool in there as well. I may even have to bottle it afterwards. Looking forward to seeing how the second batch turns out.