Getting Ready

Were you tired of looking at those Brown Planet pictures?  Well I was!  And you wonder why I'm replacing them with pictures of kitty litter pails? Ah, I have a very good reason.  Next week I am taking a five day workshop with Jan Myers-Newbury to learn her secrets of shibori fabric dyeing. I have done some shibori dyeing on my own and have had a lot of fun with it, but she does some things that I can't figure out. I have long admired her work and swore that if she ever came anywhere near me I would take a class.  It's only a 4 1/2 hour drive to Schweinfurth in Auburn, NY and I have a good friend to go with me, so I promptly signed up.

On her supply list she asked that if we were arriving by car and had extra five gallon pails to take them with us. I've been saving these pails for years. I have about 10 more in the basement, a few in the garage that I use for gardening and these 13 that I washed on the deck to get rid of that sickly sweet litter smell.  Although my last cat is three years dead, I couldn't bear to throw these away.  They are very heavy and sturdy and come with a snap-on lids and they have  handles.  I knew they would come in handy some day! 

So I'm gathering my supplies today and washing fabric.  Even though she specified PFD fabric, she still wants it washed with Sythropol and soda ash.  I've done a lot of dyeing and even some shibori  and I've never pre-washed the PFD fabric, but being the product of Catholic schools and the nuns, I usually follow directions and if she wants washed, she gets washed.  I did 24 yards today.