Wool dyeing & Spinning Class

Here are some pics of the class Brooke Atherton arranged for those who wanted to learn how to dye fibers and learn spinning techniques. The morning was spent learning to dye wool and the afternoon spinning lessons. They learned techniques in twisting and looping the sections of wool to "tye-dye" the sections of fiber, then we placed each section in the dye pot for various periods of time (last section in was the first section out); then we rinsed and dryed the filber. After the sections were (mostly) dry, we did a bit of pre-drafting and started spinning. Roni is spinning hers on a drop spindle - the rest are using our wheels. Each dye pot was unique and no two had the same exact shade. As the fibers are drafted, the dye shades will change again in the finished product. The most dramatic example is the orange fiber in the center (above picture). The darkest orange on the far left, was only slightly twisted when it was set in the dye pot - the section of the far right was "knotted" rather tightly. The two sections in the middle of the picture were knotted more loosely. We'll post an "after" picture as soon as one of them has a completed bobbin of handspun!!