The world is an amazing place, and I love it when it all comes together on my kitchen table. Today I got this in the post! Some seriously bigass knitting needles, ordered and sent to me from Israel. I got 10 of these lovely shiny reels of different coloured thread, which arrived to me from India, rather exotically packed in a cloth envelope which was sewn by hand at the end. (I love that). Also on my table was, a funky piece of Rimu – a native tree of New Zealand which produces wonderful rich reddish hard wood (and my Aura is made of out it!) that my mum sent me and I am using as a coffee cup coaster. Bamboo Merino blend roving from World of Wool in the UK, some USA origin Root Beer, my Kuala Lumper Starbucks coffee cup, and a plastic shopping bag from the Naturalis Museum here in Holland. It suddenly struck me how all this stuff from so many places was so casually sitting here together on my very own kitchen table!. I am not sure what to think of this, only that I AM thinking of this XD I am also thinking that I cant wait to start using my needles but I dont want to raid my Etsy shop Stock to do it and I am eyeing all that roving I dyed today somewhat more greedily than I should be, it was all earmarked for shop stock and a custom order (Deidre, its possible I might steal your yarn before its even spun!). Its so easy to get sidetracked from the original goal sometimes isnt it?! So, two things – is it insane that we have these casual collections of global items in our immediate environment? Or is it a wonderful thing that the world is so interdependant and we can experience so much of it like this in our modern lives? And What am I going to make with these amazing...

Hey! Glad you could make it. In this post I am focussing on dyeing, because I just got a huge box of undyed roving delivered! Dyeing is definitely a current and ongoing activity and one of my favourite parts of the yarn making process. I love colour! I love how there are infinite shades that create even more beautiful tones and colours when they mix and blend. It really is endless possibilities when you’re dyeing, and wool and fibers provide such a wonderful medium for experimenting, allowing not just for colour play but to take it further, what happens to my colours when they are spun? How do different spinning techniques change the colour mixes in this roving? And then what happens when that yarn is knitted! See its so cool! So today I am going to show you one of the simplest ways I know of to get some pretty colours mixing it up in your roving. I’m going to show you how I do my ‘boil in the bag’ dyeing. If you came here from my Newsletter, you already got the ‘what you need’ list, but in case you didnt, here it is again: – about 150-200 grams roving (5-7oz) soaked in water/vinegar solution – ziploc or similar sealable plastic bag with plenty of room for the wool – large pot (this is stovetop dyeing) which you have dedicated to dyeing not food prep, filled with water – premixed dye stock solutions, in three or four colours (ones that blend well together, not contrasting)     In the roving you see pictured here, and in the video, you can see some gorgeous white streaks through the fibers, i LOVE this! I chose this blend specifically to get that effect, its merino with bamboo through it, and the bamboo doesnt take the dye but stays wonderfully white and streaky – its such an easy way to get this really pretty effect! If you dont want that though, just use a roving thats unblended or blended with fibers that will take the acid dye (protein fibers). This is a really simple technique, its fairly kitchen friendly (unless youre a Mess Goddess like me and it just generates itself around you), and you can get some lovely vibrant colours and pretty blends without the extra time it takes to hand paint. If you want more pastel and softer shades just make your dye stock solution weaker by adding some more water into it. One of the advantages of setting the colour with this technique, is that it basically steams in the bag, so unlike in the microwave, the heat is dispersed evenly through your fibers, its less damaging and gives a...