So far, my favorite purchase is from ProChem. Their booth in the vendor area had displays of the various colorways of their Rainbow Gradation Dyeing Kit. The one I selected, Earthy Blend, is on the yarn and the long swatch of cotton fabric on the left in the photo.
With this kit, even an inexperienced dyer like me can get 30 1/2 oz skeins of yarn dyed in this rainbow of colors.
I hope I don't go mad winding the skeins!
One of the projects I really want to sink my teeth into is weaving some throws for my chilly house. I want 2 each for the living room, sunroom and porch. So far I haven't found yarn that matches the fabrics in those rooms. Dyeing could solve that problem for me.
A great thing about Pro Chem is that if I mail them swatches or paint chips of the colors I want to create, they'll give me the info I need to get very close to those colors with their dyes. They assured me that if I can follow instructions, I can successfully dye yarn.
While I was poking around the ProChem booth I also found this tiny scale. It weighs up to a pound. It will be useful for small amounts of dye or yarn.
I actually have a nutritional reason for wanting to weigh small amounts of food.....so I'll probably use it mostly for that. I love that it can sit unobtrusively on the table. My current kitchen scale is giant!
I finally have my very own McMorran Yarn Balance!!! I've wanted one for the longest time.
You know that I constantly purchase mystery yarn. This will help me figure out yards per pound, and by weighing the yarn I can figure out how much yarn I have. Plus the balance is like magic when you see it in use.
I always imagined that they were giant....but it's really about 6 inches tall. They're available in English or metric units.
I also snagged this magnifier directly from a weaver in the Halcyon booth. I wanted it for my fabric analysis class.
It's cool because it folds up so the lens is protected, but it can also sit on your fabric and help you count picks. I count picks more than I want to sometimes!
Here are the gadgets....there are some arrow pegs for my Toika and a pamphlet of yarn requirements for knitting so that I can more accurately judge how much I need when I'm impulsively yarn shopping.
On to the yarn.....
These two big cones are cotton. I'm splitting them with a friend - so I'll take them to visit one of my weaving friends who has a cone winder to I can divide them in half.
They'd actually be excellent colors to use together for shadow weave!
Rounding out the weaving yarns, I added 5 cones of rayon....in an odd assortment of colors I'll admit.
Plus two small cones of blue cotton. Price in the WEBS warehouse were really good. I couldn't pass up these yarns.
I showed you these two red yarns for projects for my nieces. The alpaca on the left is for a scarf for my niece, and the red yarn is for my second knitted lobster. I was a little bit frugal because both of these yarns were discounted in the warehouse also.
Lobster status report: 3 weeks left to finish both lobsters, and I'm working on the second claw of lobster 1.
Halcyon Yarn had free shipping on anything ordered at the conference. I wish I'd known ahead of time because I would have arrived armed with a list!! I did place a small order with them also - so some quills should find their way to my house soon!
Yes, I see now why it was hard to squeeze our luggage and third carpooler into the car on the way home!! (I wasn't the only shopper involved either!)
8 comments:
I'm intrigued by the ProChem dyeing also. I've never thought I would go there, and if I did it wouldn't be often. But it sounds like they make it very easy for the novice and casual user. Thanks!
What a great haul! Sounds like you're well-supplied for much fun to come. :-)
Oh, great haul! Love, love love the magnifying glass.
How handy is THAT! You'll have a ball with dying. I use to dye cotton for quilting ( in fact I still have a lot of procion dyes around) and enjoyed it. You've given me a great idea too. I have all that dye and I have a fair amount of plain white cotton sheeting....dye it for rag rugs...hmmmmmmm.
Thank you for sharing all those wonderful goodies with all of us! Go forth and finish that claw! ;-)
What a great haul! I love the colors of the cotton yarn on cones. And the colors of the rainbow dying kit look gorgeous, I hope you let us see the result. The magnifying glass looks very sturdy and powerful as well.
What a perfect collection of souveniors from the conference! Just delightful!
Oh, fun, new gadgets! I just told my husband I now had everything I needed to weave; bench and bobbin winder. He said something like, "Oh, sure." That man is always right!
And the yarn, oooooh, the yarn!
You have a nice blogg.
With love from Norway.
Synne.
I got two of the pro-chem dye packs, Change of Seasons, and Stones and Shells. It should be fun. I may dye some cotton flake that's left over from a summer stole I wove.
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