Tour De Fleece 2015 - Dye experiments

Over the last week or so, I've been participating, rather slowly, in the Tour de Fleece (spin every day of the Tour de France; set your own challenges; share pictures on Ravelry to egg on other spinners). So far, I've been spinning boring white yarn. But I did have some fun dyeing fibre last weekend, experimenting with variegated colours, and digging into the long-neglected fibre stash. 

First up, a merino & soybean fibre. I started by dripping & pouring complementary colours in small sections onto the wet fibre, and came to the conclusion that I used far too much liquid for this stage. I then added the fibre to a blue dyepot without stirring too much. The colours bled a little more than intended but I'm happy with the results. The streaks of soybean didn't take the dye as much as the wool, which I'm happy with. 

Next up, a merino/cashmere blend. It was my intention to end up with a variegated purple, with spots a little bit more blue or more red. I laid the wet fibre out & poured the highlight colours on in small areas, before adding the fibre to a purple dyepot. It became immediately obvious that I used too much red & pink dye! The colours will blend a little, depending on the spinning method I use. 

Another merino/cashmere blend; this colour was achieved by making up a dye pot using the excess blue & red from the previous attempt. Once the fibre was in the pot, I added some more purple & stirred a little, to try achieve a semi-solid colour. I'm really pleased with the depth of the colour - it reminds me of beetroot!

I haven't decided what these braids will grow up to be yet. To try challenge  my spinning self, I'm trying to achieve particular yarns to suit specific projects rather than spinning mindlessly. The possibilities are endless!