Thursday, January 03, 2008

Targhee Drenched in Red

Targhee fiber ~ some good combed top.
One pound, white This 'domestic' targhee is called
"Mountain Top" and came from here
and is also available locally (Seattle)
at Village Yarn and Tea.


Then dye it.
In the light-to-medium parts the dye diluted
and the really dark bits are deeply saturated color.
I used Jacquard Dye in 4 different reds:
Crimson, Burgundy, Scarlet and Fire Red.

Dabbing the dry dye onto dry fiber with a damp chopstick and then submerging in water and a little vinager and heating, the process is more time consuming than difficult, although it's nice to have a guide the first time through. My guide this trip was Sandi, who is famous around Seattle for her hand dyed/hand spun merino. Sadly, Sandi has no website. Happily, we like it this way because if she did, none of us would get any ~ she wouldn't be able keep up with the demand. Bonus: she's happy to share her knowledge!

Spin
4 spools of singles
Ply
2-ply ~ it looks way pink!
4 Hanks
of
"Stabbed in the Heart Red"

Dyer/Spinner: Rebecca
Project Notes:
We left Seattle on June 21st, 2007 for the annual Black Sheep Gathering in Eugene, Oregon, which began the next day. I acquired this fiber on June 23rd, 2007, dyed it in November at the Friday Knitters Dye Day, began spinning on November 22nd, 2007 and finished plying on January 1, 2008. Interested to see how far a pound would go, I'm very happy with the pre-washed yardage of 1550 in 4 hanks. It's about 13-15 wpi, 2-ply. It fluffed up with washing, is very sproingy and no doubt has less length now that it's dry ~ I'll have to measure again before a knitting project is chosen.

7 comments:

Jessica said...

Just gorgeous, Rebecca.
Will you guys be coming to spinning on Friday? We miss you.

Anonymous said...

It turned out so beautiful! And I love the name. I just found lots of good pictures from that dye day and will share when life gets less crazy next week.

Melanie said...

Wowza, that's gorgeous stuff! I love the name.

Anonymous said...

Didn't realize that's the color you were dying that day with Sandi - aka "the Dye Goddess" looking over. And Pat! Bring those pix on! Sure miss everyone...

Naomi said...

I got to see this in person. Fab, fab and super fab. You never cease to amaze me!

vanessa said...

wowsa!
how many sleeps til i see you guys?

Monika said...

Wow, now I'm going to stop looking, because every yarn I see gets more beautiful.