A few weeks ago I was dyeing
this skein of yarn. I realized I had a lot of extra dye in the pot and ran to my fiber stash to find something else to throw in there. I found a bag of what appeared to be relatively clean, soft alpaca. I didn't remember where it came from but I put it in a lingerie bag and started soaking it before dyeing. People, the unspeakable quantity of filth that came off this fiber and the amazing amounts of hay, grass and God knows what else...it was amazing. I washed it several times. I dyed it. I washed it several more times. The rinse water was still brown. Disgusting. And the vegetation was all still there. I decided to comb some of it to try to get out the veg. (Carding just mixes it in.)I combed a bit. Huge quantities of dirt and veg came out. I spun a bit. It turned my fingers black.
At this point a normal person would think, "Hey, this is just a small bag of free alpaca someone gave to me. I can just compost it and call it a day." But I can't stop. I spent all last night combing bits of it and spinning it. The fiber ended up a soft blue-green.
It's spinning up into a sage-y gray. I can't stop. Last night I also dyed the rest of it but a much more vivid yellow-blue-green. In the end I might get 4 oz of yarn from this. But I can't stop myself. Last night I would spin a little, wash my hands and call it done. Then drift back over to the pile of fiber and start sorting it again, picking out the yuck, spinning more. There was a lot of hand washing. This sucker is still disgusting.
My other obsession is still continuing too.
1 comment:
I'm not surprised it was dirty, dirty. It came right off the alpaca at my friend's alpaca farm and was not cleaned nor nothing. I like that you are trudging ahead though! I can't wait to see what is made.
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