I'm back -- with a suggestion for indie dyers

It's been several weeks since the last post. We lost my father-in-law on August 26 and have been busy winding up all those things that must be done when a loved one passes. Somehow I managed to get all my orders in the mail and hope I haven't forgotten anyone?

BUT.....I'm back in the studio, carding more Sparkling Rhubarb and Eboni's Blue batts. And spinning yarn from the dyed rovings and combed tops I have on hand. I'll be with the Butler Spinners and Weavers Guild booth at Penn's Colony for two weekends and I've been spinning up a storm, trying to get ready.

Which means I've also been washing all those skeins of yarn I've spun up, and there's something I've noticed that disturbs me as a long-time spinner. I use warm water and shampoo to wash my skeins as I want to remove the spinning oil and any dirt that accumulated because clean wool yarn fluffs a bit and looks wonderful. Except....it seems that in the past year I've been running into more and more dyed rovings that are not washfast, meaning the dye bleeds in the wash. A little bit of color bleeding is expected, but it's evident from the amount of bleeding that some of these rovings have not been rinsed. I mentioned this to a friend of mine who is a dyer and she related several stories about dyers she's encountered at festivals who do not want to rinse their product because it won't look as good to the buyer(s).

And I have to ask---Just what do you hope to accomplish when you sell a beautifully colored roving (or yarn) to someone, who then washes it and the yarn fades because the excess dye has washed away? Or worse yet, when the bleeding dye attachs itself to another, differently-colored, skein and that skein is ruined? How does it help your business if you make the sale but never make another sale to that particular customer because your dyes ran in the wash water?

Please please rinse your dyed rovings and yarns thoroughly. It's just the right thing to do if you're putting your product in the hands of others.

And now I'll climb down off my soapbox and go make dinner.......

I just LOVE fiber shopping....

We just returned from Finger Lakes Fiber Arts Festival. It was our chance to leave the work behind and just go have a good time in upstate New York. Talked with wonderful fiber folks like Maggie Alexander of Maggie's Farm, Bob from Winderwood Farm (look for him on eBay and Etsy) and Jonathan Bosworth who worked his little miracle on my Journey Wheel and with whom we solved the world's problems during a couple of discussions. We also went wine shoppping as we always do when in the region. We picked up a really nice Concord grape wine and a couple of ice wines which I ADORE for sipping after a nice dinner. Saturday night we stopped at the local Tops grocery store, bought some lovely cheese, olives, veggies and a multigrain bagguette to go with the wine. We had quite the picnic in our room, munching Brie/bread/olives, sipping good wine and reading our respective books. It was just the break we both needed.

And now for the good stuff. Some dyed BFL from High Bid Farm (no website but you can find them if you do a search):

The photo just doesn't do it justice, it's much richer than this shows, but what more can you do with the lighting in a motel room?

The always-incredible dyed fiber from Winderwood:

And from Spinners Hill, some combed top and complimentary-colored pouffy fiber (okay, so the technical term is carded cloud, but 'pouffy fiber' sounds exactly like the fiber feels):

I haven't included the fiber I bought this morning, cause there just isn't space for all those photos--once it's spun up I'll do the photography. Trust me, it's luscious! I guess I'm gonna be busy the next couple of weeks. Hopefully most of these will be appearing in the etsy store--except for the Purple Pouffy Fiber, which is mine, Mine, MINE! (I may allow Martha to pet it but, IT'S MINE!)

Many thanks to the Genessee Valley Handspinners Guild who do all the work of organizing this lovely festival.