Ceallach Dyes Too!

Thanks to everyone coming by Ceallach Dyes.

If you would like to be the first to learn about new products or learn more about Solar Dyeing, please sign up for the email newsletter today on the website.....right at the top. Our email newsletter will contain more information about Solar Dyeing, new products, free patterns, information about chances to win our products and other exciting Ceallach Dyes information.

I have been very busy with getting some of the other business items in order, like licensing and new inventory and the like. I am also working on accepting credit cards on the website.

Spinning fiber is also coming soon to the website, as soon as I decide on the grade and type of roving to add....I have a few that I am looking at and thought I would mention them here, so that those of you who spin can chime in on what you would like. Unfortunately, I don't yet have the fiber, so I can't show you pictures.

The three spinning fibers I am considering are:

52s Gray wool blend: A lovely gray wool, that passes the Ceallach Test* for softness, and will be stunning dyed into darker shades of my colorways.
56s Australian Wool: A white wool, also passing the Ceallach Test for softness, I think it is also a merino
62s Superwash Merino: Why superwash? Well, because superwash is great.....felting is not an issue, unless of course you are setting out to felt with it. and obviously, it can be washed. I happen to also love the way superwash dyes.....the colors are deeper somehow.
Please feel free to comment on which fibers you would like, and that will be taken into consideration.

I will also be ordering more of the Twist, as a couple of people are asking me to dye larger batches for them, which I am happy to do. A sock yarn is also in the works, more later on that! Any other knitters wanting to Twist can comment here, or send an email under Contact Us from the website.

Many of you have asked what Solar Dyeing is.

Protein fibers such as wool require heat and acid to fix the dyes to the fiber. Usually, the acid is quite light, either Vinegar or Citric Acid. The heat is usually applied using some kind of oven, stove, or other heat source that ultimately depends on either petrol products or similarly dirty energy sources to power the heat source. Solar Dyeing depends on none of these for setting the dye on the fiber. It instead relies solely on the heat and energy of the sun to set the dyes.

So why do this? The United States contributes over a 1/3rd of the world's carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Knowing that, I could not in good conscience start a business that would require me to use relatively large amounts of energy for the dyeing process. The energy consumption saved by my solar dyeing may not be that much, but if everyone did similar things, think of what we could do.

Why, we could even change the world.

We could stop the Artic polar ice and the Antartic ice shelves from melting, and stop the relentless drive of our accidental terraforming of our beautiful planet.

Because we don't get another one.

That whole racing for the stars thing just isn't working out fast enough as exciting as new spinning fiber frontiers could be on other planets. The timing is just all off.

For more information, on what you can do in your life, go to here and calculate your CO2 Footprint. You might be surprised at the impact that you have and the changes that you can make in your life. And while you are at it, spread the word about solar dyeing and calculating the CO2 footprint that we leave

In the meantime, please feel free to take the button up top right and add it to your blog or website with a link to www.ceallachdyes.com. Just remember to host the image on your own servers. More buttons are coming soon.

*The Ceallach Test is a rigorous test that Ceallach puts her yarn and fiber through to ensure that it is soft enough to not be immediately removed from the state that she is in after skin contact. Ceallach's fair skin is quite sensitive, so many otherwise fantastic fibers are just right out. This unfortunately includes most alpacas which usually feel like cactus thorns digging into her skin, with the exception of some baby alpaca and suri. The Ceallach Test involves first and foremost the finger test in which most itchy scratchy wools will sadly reveal themselves. Next comes the cheeck rub, the chin tickle, and finally, for the privileged few, the scarf knitting. We are pleased to bring our customers only the softest fibers as a result of our stringent and scientifically insupportable testing methods.