Dyeing Wool

Yesterday I dyed wool all day. It wasn't planned, I drew a pattern on linen. Looked through my wool and I was missing alot of colors I wanted to hook in the rug. It seems like the days I dye wool I'm doing many other things too. Last night my son had a party here so in between dyeing wool I was helping him. We have a pond on our farm so the party wasn't here at our house. So in between baking cheesey potatoes(no dyes got into the food LOL!) I was dyeing primitive orange, mustard and red wool. Tommorrow I might dye greens and would like to try black for backgrounds.

This is the way I keep records of dyeing wool. It is no frills and very simple way to keep track. As soon as the wool is dyed, I cut off little pieces. I even cut it when it is wet and staple the swatch to an index card. Write down the recipe right away. I have done it several hours after I dye the wool and sometimes haven't been able to remember. Usually when I'm dyeing I will dye wool all day and use LOTS of different recipes. I use several different books and if I don't have a particular color I use the Cushings color wheel. Choose a color close to the one I need. So that can be confusing also. I keep a pen and index card to write down notes too.

I bought this index card box at an auction. It had unused index cards, it was prefect for keeping swatches of dyed wool. I don't keep the swatches in any certain order.