Fluffbuff

Today was my guild's annual dyefest and it was blast. We were at Garen's house, a beautiful craftsman's house in the Hollywood area. We had a good turnout, including visitors from Santa Barbara and Ventura county.

Dyefest happens once a year, in June, and is always a fun day with lots of stuff going on. Our vendors brought all sorts of yarn, fiber and dyes for the occasion.

Mohair Tea Bag from Dizzy Ewe

Fiber from Stick & Stone Fibearts

Some already dyed fiber — optim from Custom Weaving

We didn't do our usual show-and-tell because the day was dedicated to dyeing, but John brought some beautiful woven pieces from his own handspun.

In addition to the usual pots and pans, dyes, and mordants, people brought all sorts of tools and devices, from a warper — to warp a specific length of skein to dye as self-striping sock yarn — to a salad spinner — to get as much water as possible out of dyed yarns and fibers before hanging them to dry.

The warp thingy

Apart from the usual Cushing protein dyes, I saw a new brand of organic dyes and some eucalyptus leaves.

Anne's pot

Twisted Ruth's pots

In the middle of it all, Garen's son — Leo — graced us with some baroque music on his harpsichord. When he heard that we had finally chosen an official location for our guild meetings and would not be meeting at people's houses anymore, he told his mother: "But I like it when the old ladies come here to dye". That sounded really funny.

I didn't do any dyeing this year, but I got some more spinning and plying done for my Secret Pal. Tomorrow I'll wash my skeins to set the twist, hang them to dry, and Monday I'll have my first package ready for England.

Andean ply

Almost ready to go