WOE IS ME

Today decided to soak some wool to attempt getting a better blue wool from a 'fresh' dye recipe.  Below is the wool soaked for hours in synthropol to ensure good coverage.  

The larger piece of wool measured 30" x 32" and the two smaller pieces were parts of a upcycled jacket section.

Previously I'd attempted to 'revive' this same recipe (Warm Sky) which had crystallized but wasn't happy with the results at the time.  You can check out that post HERE, about my misadventures of that dye job. However, now I'm not so sure it was so bad; you'll see in a few minutes why.

Above and to the right side are the results of today's dye job.  Was attempting to get a wool to match the light wool already hooked in the right side of the rug since the left side was becoming increasingly dark using the rest of my blue stash.

However, as you can see from the pictures above and below, this turned out too light...dang it.  Uh, that's not the wording I used when you weren't around. 

Interesting how much lighter this dye job turned out and appears to be much lighter than would work.  Since there were a few, very few lighter wool strips left to hook decided to place them on top of what was dyed today.  

First, they have a green hue to them since I was resorting to pulling out all sorta similar wool to fill the background.  So THEN.... decided to go to my blue wool section and pull out some of the wool that was from the 'Misadventures of a Rug Hooker'.  

The two wool pieces to the right are from that task and might just be what I'll use to fill in for the remaining part of the background for Zach's Favorite Sports Rug.  

I've so much blue wool now that I'll be  hooking blue hearts like Kelley all this winter when I get those 'winter blues'.

Last evening and today chose to hook on the gold border of Ned but think I'll switch and work on my grandson's rug.  There will be so much ripping and switching wool strips throughout the rug that I may as well bite the bullet and start now.  Besides, that dang rug needs to be done within the next 5 months and Gran is getting tired tweaking it.

Have a great evening everyone.

Saundra

Misadventures of a Rug Hooker

Could also have titled the post 'multitasking' because I was drawing more patterns and dying wool.  Ah, THAT's where the misadventure part comes in.

When first starting my grandson's rug knew it was a close call as to whether or not there would be enough blue background.  Blue is my grandson's favorite color so went thru my stash and pulled everything close that could be blended in.  Sure hope it is enough (I thought at the time).  And then the hooking began.

Yesterday I started getting scared there really wouldn't be enough wool. Sometime during mid sleep remember the tag I'd pinned to the wool was still on the cutting table and was titled "Sky".   Hmm, I wonder if I have any of the solution left on the shelf in the garage.

So this morning went to check and yup, there was a jar with a label with the info.  Problem was it had crystalized ~ dried up ~ over the last two seasons of heat and cold in the garage.

That's okay, I thought, will just resurrect it by adding water.

Okay, "warm sky" in the Beautiful Wool  dye book by Laurice Heath.  I'd put a sample of the wool in the book and it indicated I'd used 1 1/2 tablespoons of that solution to 1/2 yard of wool.  Okey dokey then.

So I got a piece of natural wool 1/2 yard and began to soak it.

I went into this knowing there were variables which may not render good results:.  

#1  The dye solution had been altered/damaged with drying/freezing.

#2  Didn't know how much water was in the jar when fresh so didn't know how strong or weak 1 1/2 tablespoons would be using now with half yard of wool.

#3  The wool used today was not of the same dye lot as what was used before.

But with all that in mind decided to try anyway.  When dyeing I usually do a couple different pots with different wool and different amounts of dye just to get some variance.  Today was no different.  First pot (pictures above) I put in 2 tablespoons of solution.  When wool is wet it does look darker but thought pot one was okay so glugged the white vinegar.

Then pot two used 1 1/2 tablespoons figuring it would be a tad lighter. Then decided to do a third pot to use up the rest of the solution rather than putting on the shelf.  Silly me didn't soak that wool long enough and it is lighter and you can see white core so that will definitely go back in a pot at some point.  OH!!!!!  So you say you want to see what happened??  Okay.

The five top pieces are what happened today.  Those small pieces of wool at the bottom was what I was hoping to replicate.  Didn't happen as you can from my dye misadventures.

Below is what I'm dealing with.  That piece of wool to the far left under my initials was originally not included in the mix but it will be welcomed with open arms now.   

So all that is left to hook the background are the precut strips at the bottom of the design, the 4x folded pieces of wool on blank parts of the design and that previously rejected piece of wool which is folded 4x.

All of that blue wool has been cut, tossed and put in a basket from which I'll pull strips. Will continue to work on this rug tonight but think tomorrow a little fun time with my Ned rug is required to keep me sane. 

Have a great evening everyone.  

Saundra