Well, ...., what?!
Story goes like this: I was offered a leftover lot of the magnificent Hunters of Brora Tweed on cones - about 18 kilos of it, and in unspecified colors. I couldn´t wait to get my hands on it.
And even though it is REALLY lovely tweedy yarn, 3.5 kilos of yellow was a bit more than I expected to use for the rest of never.
So, asking around for advice for dyeing large batches of wool into solid colors I decided on the Lanasyn (acid dye) method, as it could be done in your well aired kitchen, and in managable batches.
Purchasing the few ingredients proved fun and very affordable. Dye, vinager, ammonium sulfate and a surfactant (I think) called Lyogen. And an old battered camp-site soup pot with a spigot for emptying (as it contained 30L easily).
And I was ready to go.
By the way, the oven underneath contains the worlds first eco-pilot light. As the mice had moved into the insulation of the oven when we took over the house, I decided to clean it all out due to the smell, including the oven door and all. We now light candles in there in the evenings to bring a cosy feeling to the kitchen.
Back to the dyeing:
The wool had been washed and dried in huge hanks. 100-250g a piece. Here is the first try with a fuchsia on 700g of yellow in a 20L batch.
And things got heated:
But fun! And with that huge amount of water you have plenty of time to control the process and knit in between. Dyeing, cooling, rinsing, spinning, drying, washing and drying again gave this wonderful rich and full color:
I think my mom will love this.
Then onto the greens. First I did a batch with a 2% turquoise on the brightest 900g of the yellow, this time in 25L.
Note the almost empty dishwasher in the back! Yes, house chores were also done while the dye process was ongoing. This batch turned out an iridescent green with yellow tweed effects. My favorite! Then I decided to throw caution to the winds and try a 30L batch, 1kg of wool, 0.5% green, 0.5% bright yellow.
And here we go:
This little mortar brought back almost fond memories from organic chemistry lab classes.....almost. Then into the pot:
And the colors darkened:
Almost edible!
So, after two full days of staring into a huge pot of near to boiling water and a lot of anxiety I ended up with this:
And I can´t wait to dye some more! I would say: 112% succes.
For all non-danish readers: this is NOT how we danes live, this is what our old house on Bornholm looks like inside: primitive, downtrodden, and totally perfect for messy dyeing and yarn fun. The house is undergoing a total restoration, but we love it As Is in the Now. Functionality over looks any time!
Next post should be about the knitting, right?
on a small and picturesque island off the coast of Göteborg, Sweden. And only a 4 hour drive from Copenhagen across the bridge. This including an al fresco lunch at Hallandsåsen.
and I picked up Eva in Lund, for the most inspiring weekend of the year, knit-wise!
The prize, not only included the Honor, but also a small Addi Knitting Machine, that immediately was named Rulle-Marie after the Danish Defence Bomb Dismantler Robot-Thingie.
She has so far been extremely useful, and truly merits a blog-entry of her own. 
was for us like having soaked dried chick peas in water - spry and suddenly a lot more interesting! Charlotte mumbled: Kaffe Fassett meets Bohus Knitting.....and we were off, again. I suspect we will give birth to a few new ideas over the next year, which will NOT be Bohus Knitting, but our own interpretation thereof.
Pafos area. Litterally Sleeveless time! Balmic and fragrant, in short. Orange trees and rose pepper trees blossoming and gills actually emerging along our ribs, so much wonderful fish they served!
Picking your own oranges and following the goats (they are on the right side of this next picture)
up the mountain trails,
(great legs, Heidi!) being treated with freshly made creamy goats cheese with sugar on top for pudding the same night at the local taverna. Always ending the meals with a small glass of the VERY local Filfar, an orange peel-local herbs liquor, completing any meal to perfection. On our last day, we decided to pack and drive half way across Cypress to Nicosia and spend the night right up against the wall to Turkey - we walked along the wall next morning for a few hours, experiencing a mix of sadness and horror how the city has just been cut in two. One end of a street could be full of shops and cafés, the other end of bulletholes and barbed wire. Apart from this very evident separation, Nicosia was beautiful and very interesting, and we will be back one day for sure. (And in connection with The Holiday Inn right up against the wall, we recommend the Italian restaurant there, especially their shell fish/peperoni gnocchi and their interior decorations!)
This next picture is a curiosity - walking the streets of Nicosia, we saw this:
If you zoom in, you can see the greek grafitti just over the door handle. That fight will NEVER die.