first up, getting started on the other half of the punta (which had been soaking in the synthrapol’ed water for a couple days by now).
I filled the pot with water, added what was left of the peacock dye, then put the pasta insert in before moving the wool over. let that heat up and got to work on the Wensleydale.

the wensleydale had a shorter pre-soak. pulled it out, drained it a bit, then over to the table. mixed up some more purple and some royal blue. wow, the royal blue is very purpley in liquid form - it was almost difficult to tell them apart. (the purple was a bit pinker if you swirled it). diluted the stock solutions (I tried a 3 bits water to 1 bit dye. diluted the green a bit more than that) and poured it onto the wool. ran out of color so diluted some more. the purples didn’t match (I’m wondering if I accidentally did two rounds of blue), but it still looks good. wrap the saran wrap around it and go back to the stove to check on things there.

at some point, the blue was more or less exhausted, so I diluted some purple and poured it in three spots around the edge, then went to wait for it to exhaust. it didn’t - it just kept spreading (so much for the thought of adding some royal blue to it later on). so I pulled it out and set it aside (the pasta insert came in handy for that, though may have contributed to the mucho spreading of the purple).

looked in the pot to see what the water looked like - very dark. very purple. couldn’t let all that dye go to waste, so I went digging through the undyed wool stash and pulled out the Falklands I bought at Maryland. measured out 4 oz and put it in the (hot) pot dry, using the steamer basket to assist with the submerging. put the lid on and let it sit.

I then worried a bit that it might have been shocked to death and felted, but at that point, there wasn’t much to be done. so it sat and soaked. meanwhile, the other two are awaiting their turns in the steamer basket. (I think I need another pot and steamer.)

around dinner time, I checked back on it and the dye was mostly exhausted. plop the wool from the water into the steamer basket, pour out some of the water, and steam away. realize the wensleydale is oozing purple so decide to steam that next. (thankfully the colors are deep enough that the bleed wasn’t really noticeable), and then steam the punta wool.

a careful rinsing once they cooled off a bit and on to drying.

here they are drying on the target clothes drying rack:

2 oz Wensleydale wool from littlebarn at Maryland - green, royal blue, bright purple (cushings dyes)

2 oz punta wool from The Fiber Studio - peacock & bright purple

punta wools - side by side (2 oz each)

4 oz Falklands 58s wool from littlebarn at Maryland - dyepot remnants (mostly bright purple, possibly some peacock). it doesn’t seem to have felted.

so, later Friday night after pulling the wool/bamboo blend out of the steaming pot, I decided to toss in 2 oz of the punta wool to soak up the dye that drained out into the pot (mostly teal, maybe a little of the green mixed in), heating it until the dye exhausted. then I dumped the rest of the diluted green into the middle of the pot and let it heat until that seemed exhausted. and then I looked at the clock and turned it off and headed to bed.

at some point Saturday afternoon I heated it up again and added some of the leftover Peacock dye (again from last month) into three places around the edges (and let the final drips hit wherever they would) and heated it until it looked like it was exhausted. left it in the pot to cool.

late Saturday night, I drained it (and since the water was nice and clear I didn’t bother with gloves. my fingers did not turn blue/green this time) and rinsed it and set it out to dry.

I love the semi-solid-ness of it. here it is dryed & braided:

next up - the other half of the punta wool and some wensleydale wool

Finished size: about 5 1/4″ square
Yarn: Classic Elite Flash (held double) in a yellow-orange marl
Needles: Size 7
Pattern: Grrr by Alice Bell, Knitty, Summer 2007

Started: June 2007 …
Finished: knitting - January 2008, embroidery - 23 August 2008
made for: me

more details on Ravelry

I just realized I never posted an ‘after’ photo of last month’s fiber dye session.

so, here’s before:

and here’s how it looked after it was dry and braided:

brown wool base on the top, white wool on the bottom (braid)

I did good - wore gloves while actually using the dyes (mixing & putting it onto the fiber)
then I steamed the fiber and let it sit a while.

just rinsed it:

bamboo/wool blend fiber bit from The Fiber Studio. dyed in leftover Peacock (Cushings) from last month’s dye session

I think the dye on my fingertips is actually from the main chunk of fiber I dyed - most likely from removing the saran wrap, since the water wasn’t too colored while rinsing it.

so, here it is post-rinse:

the pink spot is leftover from last month too - it’s the Rose Cushings, diluted a bit.
the other dyes are diluted Green (Cushings) on the ends and Teal (Jacquard) in the middle.

I can’t wait to see how it looks dry.

I’ve got some Punta wool soaking for more fun with dyes tomorrow.