Dyeing fiber

Although I haven't been doing much knitting, I thought I would share my dyeing. A few nights ago I spend some time dyeing up approx. 4oz of Bluefaced Leicester and 4oz. of South African Fine Wool.

Out of the bag the SAF seemed much fluffier (this is a technical spinning term, right?), and seemed to stick to my clothes more than the BFL. Although I was a bit scared that the combed top would just float away in the water, it seemed to hold together just fine when I put it in for a pre-dye soak.

For the SAF I was going for the color of autumn leaves and for the BFL I was going for some muted blues, reds and greens that I have done in the past. Here are the results.

SAF

BFL

After squishing the water out and pressing the remaining water out with a towel, I was concerned that the roving would be a flat mat of fiber, but after letting it air dry on my clothing rack it did fluff up.

If you look closely you can see the wavy curliness of the BFL. The waviness of the SAF is much finer so it looks smoother.

I'll be passing the SAF along to someone else, and keeping the BFL for myself.