Even the deer are covered in hoarfrost (well you can’t see it too well but they had a coating of white the last few days on their heads and backs…)and I discovered that all those veggies discovered in the bottom of the freezer don’t need to be to binned – the DEER LIKE THEM.  Not sure how good frozen snap peas with a bit of freezer burn are for their teeth but I felt much better feeding them to the deer then tossing them!Â
and so, to keep warm, I have been doing some dyeing – which kept me REALLLLLY warm!.  I like to moosh up my wool in the pot with my hand as it is less strain on my shoulder. Because sticking your hand into a pot of semi boiling water is NOT a good thing! I use my Bluettes glove (that used to be gloveS until I accidentally melted the left hand glove onto the burner of my stove!). These gloves are amazing as they protect your hands from the majority of the heat and you are able to keep your hands in the water to moosh and stir. However, hmmmm my hand was getting darned warm – well actually  BLOODY HOT! in that pot – what was wrong with my wonderful glove which had worked so well for 18 years! Wellllll upon close inspection after a few pots of feeling like an unfortunate lobster, I found a teeny little hole in my glove which was allowing hot water to enter and cook my hand! Darn – that meant I had to order a new pair and trying to find exactly the same ones on the internet after 18 years was not easy. I finally ordered a pair and when they come in if they work well will post about them as they really are a wonderful staple in your dyeing paraphernalia. In the meantime, I am thinking hmmmm DUCT TAPE might work???  worked on the boiling Haggis!!!! so why should it not work in the cooking wool 🙂 ? And so a picture of my wools from yesterday…

The wonderful deep rich gold (Olde Golde) was dyed over a bunch of different base wools in various tones of tan from light to dark – the formula is:
1/4 tsp Bronze (Cushings)
3/32 Medium Brown (Cushings)
1/2 tsp Nugget Gold (Cushings)
2/16 Red Brown (Magic Carpet)
over 7 fat 8ths of wool to get a good deep rich old gold…
The light is my Maple Sugar formula, the Navy is my New Navy formula and the dirty teal is New Majolica from the dye book of Susan Quicksall of Holly Hill Designs – Dyeing for Colour. These were dyed for Ruby but hmmm I have LOTS left over so if you need to add to your stash let me know. My price per fat 8th is 8.00 plus tax and shipping.
and now some pix of rugs to warm you up and inspire you…
Cathy’s lovely pieces (these are kits available through my online store)…



Alana’s beautiful rugs done entirely with recycled wools…


love love love that background done I believe with recycled blankets…

Alexandra’s wonderfully primitive rug…
and her big E for a friend…
Ruby’s beautiful Lupins done in a class with Laura Bozormeny on impressionistic hooking…

Linda’s Wonky Crows (a pattern by Wendo van Essen)…
and Linda’s latest gorgeous carving…
and yes I have been hooking as well – a commissioned piece of my Otters rug but made a bit smaller…
