Summer Competition

It's been very busy here, and feel very guilty that we haven't announced the winner of the Summer Competition!
So without much ado, we can announce that Sarah Johnson has won the Mini Starter Kit for her lovely had design, which Alison is busy knitting up now and will be featured in a later blog.
Mary Wilson won the Spring 4 Collection for her mitten pattern. Sadly we can't use both pattern as we don't have enough yarn.

Well done Sarah and Mary.

Summer Competition Update

We are starting to get some lovely ideas from you all for our Summer Competition, ranging from a Multi-Directional Scarf to knitted mittens! Please keep the ideas coming in.

For those of you who missed our post about the competition, here are the rules:

Alison has spun some Shetland tops, she dyed earlier this year, and can't decide what to make from the yarn she has produced and is asking for your help. In return you can win one of two packs of dyes - a Mini Starter Kit or a Spring 4 Collection.

Alison dyed one 50g lot of Shetland tops with Myrobalan, Madder and Acacia Gum and the other 50gs was dyed with Red Lac and Annatto. She pulled staple lengths of fibre from each top and spun these in turn. The resulting singles yarn was then Navajo plyed (3 ply), to keep the lovely colours separate. There are approximately 8 - 9 wraps to an inch (Double Double/Chunky Yarn!) and approx. 250 yards in all.

We are looking for a suitable knitting or crochet pattern or whatever you can come up with that stylish and bang on trend!

For your chance to win one of the two dye kits you will need to visit the Pure Tinctoria website and either place an order and leave your idea in the comment section or click on Contact Us at the top right hand side of the website and leave your email address, name and message. The item that is produced from the winning idea will be featured on the Pure Tinctoria website and on this blog. We are looking forward to your ideas.

Good luck, oh, and the closing date is Monday 31 August, so there's just over a month for you to put your thinking caps on!

Pure Tinctoria Summer Competition

Hi all

We are running a competition at Pure Tinctoria, this summer. Alison has spun some Shetland tops, she dyed earlier this year, and can't decide what to make from the yarn she has produced and is asking for your help. In return you can win one of two packs of dyes - a Mini Starter Kit or a Spring 4 Kit.

Alison dyed one 50g lot of Shetland tops with Myrobalan, Madder and Acacia Gum and the other 50gs was dyed with Red Lac and Annatto. She pulled staple lengths of fibre from each top and spun these in turn. The resulting singles yarn was then Navajo plyed (3 ply), to keep the lovely colours separate. There are approximately 8 - 9 wraps to an inch (Double Double/Chunky Yarn!) and approx. 250 yards in all.

Alison is looking for a suitable knitting or crochet pattern or whatever you can come up with that stylish and bang on trend!

For your chance to win one of the two dye kits you will need to visit the Pure Tinctoria website and either place an order and leave your idea in the comment section or click on Contact Us at the top right hand side of the website and leave your email address, name and message. The item that is produced from the winning idea will be featured on the Pure Tinctoria website and on this blog. We are looking forward to your ideas.

Good luck

Gift Idea No. 2!

Hi all

Why not introduce your "Fibery" friends to natural dyeing with the Spring Four Kit.

25g each of Ambrosia, Amber-L, Desert-V and Thar-G. From bottom to top in the image:

• Ambrosia - marigold - lemon yellow.
• Amber-L - lohdra bark - orange to peach.
• Desert-V - chaste tree - tans.
• Thar-V - cutch waste - olive greens and greys.

All for £7.50!

Dyeing Bowmont Fleece

I've just had a set of images of the four new dyes, Marigold, Lodhra bark, Chaste Tree and Cutch waste, dyed onto Bowmont fleece.
Lesley Prior of Devon Fine Fibres has used them very successfully on her own Bowmont fleece.

The colours are, from left to right, Lodhra bark (Amber-L), Chaste Tree (Desert-V), Marigold (Ambroisa) and Cutch waste (Thar-G).

When she emailed me with the image she had this to say:

"I used 5% for the Desert but only 4% for the Amber. I think Bowmont
takes it up very well so the proportions for at least some of the dyes
could be reduced slightly depending on the effect you want of course.
Looking forward to using the other two!!!"

She also uses half the suggested quantities of dye on her kid and YG mohair and half to two thirds on her cashmere because it's ecru not white. She feels that two thirds is about right for the Bowmont.

You can read all about her dye session with Pure Tinctoria on her blog.