Cooking Mohair

It's very cold here in upstate New York and the wind is howling.  I like to get a dye pot going in the milk house where the plumbing is as it helps to keep pipes from freezing up and the kitties love it.  They sit all around the pot on the warm stove top!  There is a milk house heater going but this is even better.  Today I'm dyeing some black/gray mohair from my sheep friend, Libby Llop, out west in Caledonia, NY.  At the last Fingerlakes show I scored some really beautiful Dharma Dyes colors from my art professor pal, Carol Crayonbox.  This "Oxblood Red" was in the dye box.  I love natural colors, but I also love to overdye the silvery black fibers.  You have to use a darker color than the fiber or you will not accomplish very much.  Purple is a common choice for me to use on dark fibers.  This Oxblood Red looks real good.  The challenge comes when I need to spread the wet fiber in a safe, warm place for drying.  That's when I'm really patting myself on the back for getting most of my wool and mohair washed and dryed in the summer and fall.  I'll be dropping off a load to Dreamweaver in Sherburne, only 20 miles away, where Heather will spin it into yarn for me.  I have too many animals to spin it all myself.  Sadly, Heather has sold her mill, but she tells me she will be able to spin some for me before the new people take over.  My bad for not utilizing her local resource before she decided to sell and concentrate on her husband's dairy farm.