What To Do With My FLOR Samples

So I probably went over board ordering FLOR samples in trying to get just the right look for my rooms.  Yesterday, I was staring at all of them and decided to get out the duct tape and see if I could actually put them to more use than just taking up space. And I now have my FLOR sampler rug for the back door.

An Old Survivor

Michael and I have been taken by this tree every time we go to Joplin.  It is on 20th Street just west of RangeLine. Today, we both finally had our cameras with us.  The Home Depot, WalMart and Academy are nearby. This tree is an Osage Orange. By the size of it's trunk, Michael thinks it is about 75-100 years old.    It is amazing that one single leaf is growing on this tree after what it has been through. But that is Joplin for you, pretty darn amazing.

Seeing Purple (for quite a while now)

 

What started out as a small project for my newly adopted Poodle Sophia turned into a two-year marathon for my youngest daughter? 

I vaguely remember how all of this started.  In the beginning, I dyed some of my machine spun Shetland yarn to make a sweater for Sophia.  The people who spun it (some one in Colorado) really did a botched job and I didn’t think the yarn was fit for human use. I dyed the yarn Barbie pink*. In my hurry to dye, I forgot to loosen the factory ties, so ended up with pink yarn with white stripes. Needless to say, Sophia got a sweater out of some different yarn. 

The pink on the left was the original base color.  Using violet over-painting I created  light, medium, and dark yarns to work with.

 

So there it sat, for a few months, my ugly pink yarn with the white stripes.  I must have been bored one day because I got out my foam brush, spray bottle and purple dye** and started painting.  Rachelle saw the yarn and loved it.   When dyed multi hues, the yarn really didn’t look too bad.  The flaws just didn’t glare out at you anymore. I came up with three shades, light, mid-tone, and dark.  This was a good initial decision because over the next several months, I would have to come back and re-dye, re-dye, and re-dye.  In retrospect, this probably was not the best-planed project.  Coming up next, the gloves.   Stay tuned.

* I have been using the same pink dye forever. It is 608 Pink (Primary) from Jacquard. These are the dyes that I first started using.  It is an acid dye, good for protein fibers.  Jacquard is a good dye for beginners. Vinegar is it’s only requirement.  Although, I have changed over to a different brand, I keep this one around.  I just like the color.  Use intensely, it is a great deep red-violet. Used sparingly, it creates perfect ranges of pink.  I love it as an under-base for violet.

** My violet is Sabraset Violet 880. I pretty much use Sabraset exclusively. My opinion is that they are the best when it come to light fastness. They do take a little more work.  Auxiliaries such as citric acid (vinegar can be used, but it takes a lot more the c.a.), salt, sodium acetate, and Albegal SET need to be used with them.  For me, it is worth it.