Dying wool?

[Einna]

Okay, so I need to know how to dye wool. Prefferable without having to buy dyes (i.e. natural dyes only). Help?

[AXJ]

http://www.pioneerthinking.com/naturaldyes.html

[Einna]

Awesome. Any idea what I do with it in the inbetween? I.e. cleaning it, making it spin-able? Etc?

[snooze]

Pretty sure you have to wash it, somehow. With a mild soap, lukewarm water, and leave to dry naturally.
Then you need to card it. Carding brushes work best, they're tough as shit, but maybe you could jury-rig something with some combs or pet-brushes. Something STURDY, mind. Tangled wool is pretty much...felt-y.

Once you card it, you can kind of back-comb it off the carding brush with the other brush and it makes a neat little roll that's ready to be stretched and fed into the spinning wheel.

I wish my grandma was here, she could explain it better than me. She does a lot of her own raw wool working, spinning and weaving. And rug hooking. The "Grandma's a hooker" jokes never END with that one. She's got a loom in the addition to her house that takes up nearly one entire end of the room. Makes blankets and stuff.

[Einna]

*giggles*

Awesome. My great-nan (mums mums mum) was a hooker too. Still is, actually; daft woman can't remember her own name, but she still does all her crafts. Unfortunately she lives too far away for me to get a hold of, she doesn't have a phone, and I don't think she knows who I am anyways :-(

Right. Carding brushes. *Heads for E-bay*

[snooze]

My grandma used to let me card wool for her, even if she'd already carded it, because I liked doing it. :) You can do other things instead of wool, too. My grandma made a fluffy little pillow out of collected undercoat brushings from my uncle's now-dead golden retriever. Yeah, I know it's creepy, but they loved that dog. At least they didn't have her stuffed and mounted.