Don’t know if I told you that I recently purchased a bunch of wool from a rug hooker’s estate. And I mean a BUNCH…
Bolts of it! My intention is to dye it, felt it, sell it to get my money back! But first on the agenda is to dye it and felt it…that’s gonna be the fun part!
Since it needs to be ‘cooked’ and I didn’t want to dye in my kitchen, I figured out that my perfect appliance would be a good old-fashioned roaster. Went on a thrift store search and found one-cheap!- on the last day of our vacation. It came with an extra bit of gunk at no extra charge, but I bought it anyway!
I washed and dried the wool that had already been cut off the bolts and got this huge pile of beautifully soft lusciousness!
For my first trick…I’m starting with this soft blue and soft yellow, remembering that the dye colors will mix with the starting colors. I wasn’t lucky enough to get any white wool, but I can work with color!
You can almost tell the finished color as soon as the fabric hits the water…
At this point, I’m hoping this is the color that will come out of the dryer!
I was disappointed at first with the blue…it didn’t retain the violet color very well. Then I put it next to the original and there is a definite color change. And the raspberry over the yellow is just yummy!
More experiments to follow…stay tuned!
Linking to Off the Wall Friday…
Quirks Ltd. 
I do lots of rug hooking, and dye and overdye wool all the time. I would love to find a hooker’s estate sale, but there aren’t many of us here in NC. Having this much wool to play with would be heaven to me! Let me know if you want to sell any before you dye it all.
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I’m having a great time playing with it and planning on how I’ll use it, but I have so much, I’m very open to selling some! I’ll be in touch!
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the colors shine through in pics wonderfully.(full-y, pun time)
What in the world will you do with this fiber yumminess?? Can’t wait to see.
LeeAnna Paylor
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Not sure what will emerge but I want a full palette of colors first…maybe piecing, maybe applique, maybe added roving and yarn and ‘stuff’…can’t wait to see myself!
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Looks like fun. Vests would not be too hard. Enjoy!
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I’m hoping NOT to sew any clothing ever again–but I do have a bit of wool available if anyone else would like to sew or experiment!
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I only work with small amounts of wool, but it is such a fabulous fiber and dyeing is always an adventure. You never can predict the outcome. Looking forward to seeing your results.
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This may have been a foolish purchase, but it will be fun playing…and I live in a place where I could even make wool clothing…if I could stand to sew clothes again!
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