RUG HOOKING BLOG

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I'm a mother of four grandmother of seven and great grandmother of three. I live with my husband in the house that we built with the help of my brothers and will have been married for 57 years this February.

Sunday, February 27, 2011

TO DYE FOR

I've been wanting to dye some wool since I got back home from Ottawa as I had a new bolt of wool, lots of dye, TOD spoons, wide mouth Mason jars and a large canner with rack and April DeConick's  Virtual Color Palette  directions. But I had to spend a day cleaning things that only the lady of the house would see after being away for 5 weeks, yeah!!! then I had a two day meeting in Woodstock, N.B. for Soil and Crop and a banquet to attend, My husband was one of six nominee for Farmer of the Year from the Soil and Crop N.B. Club.  Needless to say, a younger and more energetic farmer won the honor after trying to win for three years. All our expenses for the entire two days were paid for and we stayed at  the Best Western Hotel and even visited some friends while we were there.

I had brought a bottle of my own Gewurzt to drink in our room with some friends but I didn't need to open the bottle. There was enough wine and beer to let say, wet the appetite of everyone there.

Now that this business is behind us, I decided to set up a dye kitchen upstairs and I no longer need to use my kitchen for dyeing my wool.
 It's still messy up there as  I've been using that room for storage for my ceramic bisque and paints and glazes and  some supplies after the flood. I didn't take any pictures yet as yesterday and today I was busy dying some color palettes.

This is my first attempt at dyeing 8 values of green palette.

 
 This is the red palette I did today. It was great fun and I'm pleased with the color and I didn't stir the wool much as I wanted to have some mottled effect as it's desirable for hooking rugs. To get an even dye, I would have to make sure the wool was stirred while the mordant is doing its job of setting the dye.

Maybe I should dye my hair while I'm at it... Just kidding...

I also drew my pattern for my Grandmother's trunk Challenge rug but haven't transfered  it on backing yet. Sorry, I can't reveal the design yet and I can't show a picture as we are sworn to secrecy...  Not until the final cut off date. I don't know why I got myself in this challenge as I don't have much spare time to hook and I'm starting very late in the game but I had fun in the last challenge.

Check out Rugs and Pugs great giveaway. A rug kit that is sure to please.

I hope that all that snow will melt shortly. I'm also dying to see some grass outside. Have a great week everyone and thanks for stopping by and leaving comments.  JB