Stash Enhancement

Yesterday I went to the LYS and did a little stash enhancement. From top to bottom: Colinette Point Five in Marble, Mountain Colors Mountain Goat in Lady Slipper, and Mountain Colors Mountain Goat in Rose Hip. The Colinette will be used for this hat and the Mountain Goat will be used for socks. I've learned there are a few problems dyeing with Wilton's food coloring: I can't get a stable pink or purple - both colors seem to be fugitive (they fade very quickly or in the case of purple, it shifts to a bluish gray color), and I can't get a clear red (or a blue red for that matter) only an orange red. Obviously, I could use "real" dyes, meant for wool instead of food, but I don't really want the chemicals around and this house doesn't really have a good place to do "real" dyeing. So I'll need to buy these colors from people who do use "real" dyes (I'd do this anyway so its not a big stretch). Sock yarns in these colors are primarily what I'll be looking for at Maryland (at least in yarn - who knows what I'll buy to spin).

On the topic of spinning, I got a little more stash enhancement yesterday through the mail: This is Mischief - tussah silk top from The Silkworker. For Christmas, Rick and Mindy got me a gift certificate for two of Carol's tops (that sounds weird doesn't it) and this is the second one. I can't remember if I showed the first one on the blog, but it was a periwinkle blue with some purple in it (at least that's what I remember without going stash diving). All of her silks are just gorgeous and they really aren't hard to spin at all. Thanks for the gift certificate guys!