My first dyeing experiment

I’ve just finished knitting up a sample swatch using the first of my wool dyeing experiments and I’m so excited by how the colours have turned out. I dyed the roving (technical term for a big fat sausage thing of commercially washed and combed wool) then spun it up into a very soft single, and although I plied (is that the past tense of ply?) most of it there was a small ball left over which I used to knit my sample. I suspect I’m going to be attempting to reverse my plying process as I prefer singles anyway and the finished product is so beautiful. I love how softly the colours blend and stripe in the knitted product.

The single is quite softly spun and may not be stable enough, so to set the wool I gave my knitted sample a light felting handwash and was pleased with the result of that. The finished product is still beautifully soft but firm enough not to pill too easily. A full size scarf will be the next step.

Oh my goodness, I’ve turned into a complete knitting nerd and I can’t believe how much fun it is!!!