Finished one shawl, prepping for dye samples

I finished weaving off the first huck lace shawl, but haven’t yet removed it from the loom, because I may be short on warp. So I’ve plunged directly into weaving the second one, which means no pictures (yet) of the finished one. Here’s a shot of it on the loom, though:

(Click on the thumbnail to download the larger version (warning: it’s circa 1 MB) – I tried fitting it in this post but it didn’t resize gracefully.)

I think it’ll be pretty once it’s done.

Towards that, I have ordered an electric fringe twister from Lacis. Kathy suggested it and I’m tired of twisting fringe with a manual fringe twister, so I’m going to give this one a try.

I have also started prepping to do my Procion MX dye samples. These are much more involved than dyeing with Sabraset dyes – you have to start with a plain-water dyebath, then add salt at three five-minute intervals, then add soda ash, then let it age for an hour or so in the dyebath. The whole thing should ideally be kept at 105 degrees the entire time (120 degrees for turquoise), making it a pain in the butt to keep at temperature. The whole process takes about an hour to an hour and a half, and involves much more fussing than acid dyes. Bother!

I have bought an electric frying pan to help with keeping the dyebath warm. I’ve got a thermostat courtesy of my attempts at dyeing with acid dyes in a crockpot, so that should be good for maintaining the right temperature. All I need to do is find the time to dye, and I’ll probably start that tonight, with little (2g) skeins of embroidery floss.