The mystery of who Cheryl was bringing was quickly ended when Missy of Wool in the Woods arrived with Cheryl to teach our hand dyeing class. Cherry Tree Hill has completed a buyout of Wool In the Woods and will take over production of their line of hand dyed yarn. Missy took the lead in teaching the class, and I have to say she is a first rate teacher. Her technique was quite different to Cheryl's, and I thought a little easier to master if a lot messier. 
It must of felt a little strange for Missy to be dyeing Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn but she took to the task readily explaining in detail the process step by step.While Cheryl applies dye to the top of the yarn, Missy applies it generously in a pool (or well) under the yarn.
After cooking in the microwave for a couple of minutes and then rinsing in cold water the squidgy mess in the tray turned into a beautiful skein of hand dyed yarn (which I now have in my possesion and will turn into a pair of socks!).
Next it was the turn of the students. The turnout was not as good as for the last class, but the enthusiasm was there and we were eager to get our hands dyed, oh I mean yarn dyed. Three of us brave souls were going for the hand dyed silk lace.
All yarns take dye differently. Sockittome soaks up the dye quickly, silk does not so a lot more acid must be used when dyeing silk.Our first task was to visualize our color way, and draw it out on paper in crayon.
Cyndi decided to do the sock yarn first and attempt the lace later, Gina decided to do the silk first and I already had my color plan so did my silk first and then did the same color way in sockittome.
Gina finished first. Her pink silk is simply amazing. It was nice to see that everyone was able to turn out gorgeous hand dyed yarn, much credit to missy's teaching ability!
My finished skeins are the top two, the very top one is sockittome, and the lower one is silk. The silk came out much lighter as much dye came out in the rinse compared to the sock yarn. The color is called "Bushkill Falls" named after one of my favorive waterfalls in Pennsylvania (where Missy is from). The lower skein is the very talented Hannah's amazing creation.
