Coffee...give me coffee!

I have 150 lbs of natural cotton for weaving. (DON'T ASK!...if you know anything about me at all....it is that I can get myself in the middle of a big mess without even trying!) So, on my last visit with my favorite fiber-terrific cousin, Liz, we were talking about fiber, as usual. She suggested that I might want to consider natural dyeing some of the cotton. Why not use something simple, like used tea bags or coffee grounds for staining? This really peaks my interest because I know that coffee will give the fiber an antique or aged effect.

Since I am not a tea drinker, I settle for my favorite pick-me-upper, coffee! Only problem is, since my thoughtful daughter gave me a Keurig for mother's day a few years ago, all I have are K-cups. So, I spend the end of each day for the next two weeks scraping out the grounds from tiny K cups until I have enough for a dye batch. I place them in a piece of cheesecloth that I had conveniently purchased just the week before, and set out on the coffee train. Choo, choo!!

I decide to stain enough cotton for 8 large dishtowels. I will need 240 total threads for the project. I very seldom run a whole warp at one time. I break it up into more manageable sections, so I decide on 6 groups of 40 threads each. With the dye pot prepared, I begin the process. Letting the cotton soak overnight, then replenishing it with another section the following morning to soak all day, it takes me a few days to get the entire lot completed. Checking my references on natural dyeing, I make note of the fact that the final color will be approximately two to three shades lighter when the fabric dries. After 4 days, the last section is ready to be removed from the dyepot this morning. Unfortunately, I am leaving for a short vacation tomorrow, so the weaving will have to wait until I get back. This photo shows the cotton before dyeing, completely dried and directly out of the dyepot. Pics of the completed project coming soon, I promise!

Wool Days!

While I was working the Old Algiers RiverFest last weekend in New Orleans, my shearer phoned to say he had another shearing job. Did I want more wool? More wool?? What spinner in their right mind would say no? Not this one for sure!

So, Sunday night I arrived to find this on my back porch. Yes sir, yes sir, nine bags full !

Most spinners I know would not deal with domesticated fleeces, but I took a chance the first time Travis called and was extremely pleased with the wool he brought me. He told me that the first shearing was always his best breed; suffolk. Granted, it is not the suffolk that you purchase on the internet....all cleaned and colored and ready to spin, but you won't hear this girl complaining.

So now I have to get to work and sort the bags of wool. I will end up with three piles in the skirting station hubby helped me set up.

1) The highest grade wool

2) the lower grade wool and

3) trash pile.

As a nature conservationist, it is extremely difficult for me to throw away wool. So I settle for a lower grade wool pile which usually ends up with wool that will end up in the trash pile when I get around to scouring it. (Later....much later for that part)

I was pleased when I opened the first few bags and saw the grade was close to the first fleeces Travis brought me. The blankets was huge! These must be some very large sheep! I sort of felt like I was skirting Shrek's fleece.

So I spend a few hours skirting before the boss decides it is time to close the skirting station so he can mow the lawn. I ended up sorting through 4 bags and ended up with 2 high grade bags and 1 lesser grade. We won't talk about the trash pile... ;)

Here is a small bit that I kept out to scour. I'll post a photo of it after I've cleaned it up so we can compare.