So I have had a particular set of rovings for about three years now, and been afraid to do anything with them.

What is this roving, you ask?  Corriedale, a beginner's fiber.

What is so scary about it, then?  Well, because it's veeeery very thin.  It's about 6 WPI, and most roving is 1 wrap per TWO inches.  This stuff can be knit up as is, or spun as is, or any other attenuation.

So why is this so bad?  Well, it's BAD because to dye it you must get it wet, and when you get roving wet the fibers expand and swell, and properly wetted roving is like a cloud in the water.  As we saw in Peachy Keen, the roving can sometimes attenuate apart just by the weight of the water when you try to pick it up, but to properly dye the fiber it MUST be saturated.  Now, I can barely unravel this stuff from its ball to wet it, let alone pick it up out of water.

So my project right now is trying different ways to handle the corriedale pencil roving and get it to behave and actually dye up, because it is WONDERFUL stuff to work with when it's behaving. I know it can be handled and dyed, but I am not sure how aside from being SUPER gentle.

My first experiment will be to not wet it in the utility sink, as I do with most fibers, but wet it in a bowl that I can gently drain the water from without lifting it up, so it can condense and regain some strength and continuity.  I will also coil it VERY carefully so I don't have to put pressure on it in trying to unravel the snarl, as I think the free-floating nature of the bigger bath was the biggest issue.

I shall report back in with pictures later on!