Charting new territory - Yarn dyeing

I believe I may have discovered a new obsession recently. It has been a while that I have been fascinated by the process of yarn dyeing, and that I have wanted to try it. So when I discovered that a Montreal based yarn dyer called Sweet Paprika Designs was organizing a workshop, I signed up. Two of my knit-night friends joined as well. 

Our teacher, Debbie, was wonderfully informative and patient. We each had brought photos with us for inspiration, but it took us a while to decide on what colors we wanted to use and to achieve the right shades. Debbie was extremely helpful in making our inspiration translate into reality. 

I was freshly back from my vacation in La Jolla, so my mind was still filled with bright images of flowers and the calming tones of the ocean. 

First we tried hand-painting yarn. We each had a skein of laceweight, 50% merino and 50% silk, of about 1100 yards, which is amazing yardage, enough for a shawl, and maybe even the Wispy or Whisper cardigans.Debbie carefully guided us through each step, and it was amazing to see it all come together. All three of us were thrilled with the results.

Then came a skein of superwash merino fingering weight yarn which we dyed using the immersion method. Not nearly as exciting as hand-painting but still a ton of fun. 

As I said, this was so much fun, that I decided I will certainly continue experimenting with yarn dyeing, I can think of a million fun projects and color combinations. Oh, to have the time. 

Now, does anyone know of a sheep I can adopt, cause I am going to need lots of wool!