Thursday, December 18, 2008

A Fiber Tour: Day 3


Natural BFL

Naturally dyed BFL fiber


These two little gems I received in my order from Tactile Fiber Arts. I ordered a Schact Hi-Lo drop spindle - my first - and was pleasantly surprised to find two little gifts nestled alongside it. TFA is run by Maia and Brooke, who endeavor to supply knitters with wonderful natural fiber products. All of their dyed fiber is created using all natural products - mostly plants and foods -no chemicals here. The result is lovely, earthy tones.

Both of the above fibers are 2 oz. of Blue Faced Leicester, on the right is a natural brown and the left is a natural white that has been dyed. Unfortunately there were no accompanying labels, so I don't know what gave it the gorgeous orange color. Maia, any ideas?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

The orange color is from madder root. Madder can give red and orange depending on many factors like the mordant used, ph, and mineral content in the water. There may be a couple other dyes in there too like fustic (a yellow dye) for a warmer color.

How's the spinning coming along?

Dan said...

Hey Jason,
The fiber looks really nice. I'm rather new to knitting so the whole "spin your own yarn" idea is a little daunting to me. Got a question... The fingerless gloves you show on your page... where'd you get the pattern and were they very difficult?

Thanks...
Dan

Jason said...

The fingerless gloves are Knucks and you can find them on Knitty.com

Cassie said...

Do you just love the hi-lo? I bought one last year and ADORE it! I have yet to spin on the lo side but that's ok. It's a beautiul spindle and works great. It's what firmly cemented my addiction. :)