7 Obsessed with Yarn Dyeing.

Jeni came to visit this past weekend and we had such a fun time just hanging out, chatting, and working on some sewing projects.  We went thrifting, yarn shopping, and visited the alpacas too!

 We did some knitting at the yarn shop and bonded over our love of purple!

 I think the highlight of the weekend for both of us was dyeing our own yarn!

We used the book Hand Dyeing Yarn & Fleece by Gail Callahan, which I do recommend picking up if you're interested in trying this!  We dyed MCN High Twist Fingering Weight Yarn using Jacquard Acid Dyes.  We ended up dyeing two skeins each, deciding after the first one that we just had to do it again!  We probably would have done even more if it would have dried faster, as we didn't want Jeni to have to take home wet yarn!  Wet wool really doesn't smell very good.  This was the perfect project for the two of us, as we both really love playing with color.  Jeni was smart and dyed some versatile color schemes -- all different shades of gray and another with gray, black, and purple.  They are going to make some amazing shawls!

I went a bit crazy with my colors and made a purple, coral, neon yellow, gray and black skein first, and then a coral, teal, gray, and cream skein.  What I am going to do with all this bright yarn?  I have no idea.  I am honestly just happy to hang them up as-is in my sewing room and call them finished projects :)

We both decided we're hooked on yarn dyeing now and have plans to do it again this summer.  I'm guessing this isn't the last of the yarn you'll see from either of us, it's really fun planning out and mixing colors and so satisfying to see the finished product wrapped up in a skein!

I love getting together with friends for sewing weekends, and wish I could do it more often!  I think Jackson found a new favorite friend, and thankfully Jeni was very tolerant of my high maintenance pup :)

I'm already looking forward to my next sewing retreat now!  June can't come soon enough!