This week I decided to buy my first roving. I made a trip to my LYS and made myself look like an idiot but the clerk was very nice and patient with all my questions. I ended up purchasing 8 ounces of corriedale cross top.
There are tons of tutorials on how to kool-aid dye. I scanned several of them, taking bits and pieces. I gave each child their height in roving. And they took turns with my two crock pots. We soaked the roving in room temperature water with an unmeasured but small amount of vinegar and set the crock pot on low. We let that soak for 15-20 minutes then they kids sprinkled half of 2-3 kool-aid packets in the crock pot, dividing it into 2-3 parts. We stirred a little but they didn't want all the colors to mix together, while my 3 year old did but not the girls. We let that sit on low in the crock pot until the water was clear, 30 minutes or so. Then I dumped out the water and rinsed the roving in hot water and gently squeezed out the water and rolled the roving in a towel to further dry and hung them in the bathroom. The kids were excited to see the transformation of the white wool. It was a fun experiment to do together. I had a little bit of wool yarn left over from kool-aid dyed soakers I made years ago so I dyed that with the left over kool-aid. I like the color but it isn't a lot of yarn, maybe enough for some flower embellishment or something?
strawberry and orange kool-aid mixed
lemon-lime, blue raspberry, and orange kool-aid.
On the left is lemon-lime with just a bit of blue raspberry kool-aid and then my yarn on right with strawberry and orange kool-aid.
This challenge of creating with my children each week makes me look forward to Sunday afternoons with them. I think they are happy to have more of my attention. I am hoping it might cut down on the contention that happens between them. I haven't seen much evidence of that yet but I am still hopeful. Next week I am hoping to make something with them with all this roving. Maybe felted balls, any other ideas?
Working with the roving is making me want to take a spinning class even more but none of the summer beginner classes at my LYS work with my schedule. Maybe in the fall.
Read more about the Hearts Knit Together link party here.
If you would like to link up and share your current creations with your children please leave your link below. No rules, only that your link is current and something about creating with children. They don't even have to be your own kids. Please remember to link back here so that others who may want to join Hearts Knit Together can find it. Pretty Simple. Remember your post can be from any day of the week, it doesn't have to be Monday. And you don't have to leave a comment. Mr. Linky automatically says that.
Labels: Children, dyeing, fiber, Hearts Knit Together
