So, today as I biked to work for only the second time this year, I was pondering that this is probably only the fourth time that I’ve biked to work since getting Stella (I can’t remember if I took her three times last year or two…so I’m going with two). So if you consider that I spent about $800 on her including accessories (helmet and side-saddle bag), this would be the 7th time I used her, so it’s about $114 for this ride. But I console myself that tonight will take my rides down to$100. However, if you speculate the value of riding past the multi-million dollar homes that skirt the river valley, and then that I bike through that valley which makes those homes worth so much, one may consider that worth it. Although, I think to really make it a valuable trip, I should get a fishing pole and a fish basket so I can utilise the river too…
I’m hoping it doesn’t rain on Monday so my morning ride would be $88.88 and my evening ride $80. I can’t bike to work tomorrow as I’ll be leaving mid-day to head over to the Muttart Conservatory to help celebrate its reopening after it had some pretty extensive remodeling done to it. I’m taking my spinning wheel and various plant fibres to show that plants aren’t just for eating or smelling or looking at. I’m probably also going to bring my Level 1 dye book to show that they can be used as dyeing materials as well, and a friend and fellow spinner may be joining me as well, which will be really nice. Hopefully I’ll get an opportunity to wander around and take some photos while I’m there!
Percentage Dyes. Two groups for this one. My group was in charge of green. Percentage pertained to amount of dye per weight of fibre. From left to right for each dye we did 0.1%, 0.25%, 0.5% and 1%:
Ombre Dyeing. This is where the skeins are all put in the same dye bath but were removed after certain lengths of time to create variations in saturation. From bottom to top, 1 minute, 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes and 30 minutes. We may have to redo this one however as the gradiants were too slight:
Injection Dyeing. The top skein had been wound really tightly and folded on itself to create a snug spiral which I wound my syringes of dye around. I wound the bottom skein around my thumb to create a tight little center pull ball, and then I gently injected dyes around the outside. When I unwound the ball to return to skein form, I was delighted to find that the inside barely received any dye while the outside looked like confetti:






