Spinning and Dyeing of Wool

The last project we did in this class was learning how to use a spinning wheel and how to dye wool using Koolaid. The first step of dyeing wool is to wash the wool until it becomes felted. We didn't have the use of a washer in the classroom, so we got stuck using a hand crank Wonder  Wash. We cranked the wonder wash for about 20 minutes until the wool became felted. We proceeded to cut the wool into squares for the class and used pipets to drizzle Koolaide onto the felted wool. After doing this, you put it in the microwave for several minutes. Once it has microwaved, you are left with dyed wool. After learning how to dye wool, we were then taught how to operate a spinning wheel, which proved very hard for most of us. It's hard to keep rythm while feeding wool into the spinning wheel. Don't think I'll be making my own yarn anytime soon!