Thing a Day

[mightyjesse]

The thing-of-the-day yesterday was more dying... I dyed some more roving gold with turmeric this time... 3 TBSP turmeric to 1 gallon of water and 5 oz of roving... I had to leave them in the crock pot on high for about 3 hours before the color developed the way I wanted it to... The wool is still rather light in color in the middle... I think I need to use less wool/batch.


The turmeric was added directly to the dye bath and never filtered... This resulted in gold "crust" on some parts of the wool which will have to be carded out... The carding will also help even out the color. The next batch, I think I'll heat the dye and filter it (with a coffee filter or something) before adding the wool... This should lessen the cook time and MAYBE even out the color... We'll see...

(I also splurged at La Target Boutique and got a drying rack with which to process the large-ish quantities of wet wool I seem to have lying around the house recently...)

Here is the koolaid dye that I did as my Thing a Day for Saturday:


The colors are uneven again, but much more pleasing and deliberate looking than what happened with the turmeric. This lead to me looking at my morning Tang in an entirely different light... "Hmmm... I bet that would make a pretty color!"

Of course, the Tang is pre-sweetened, so if I DO experiment with it, my wool will be all sticky and need an extra rinse... I think I want to experiment with putting the roving into a delicates bag before dumping it into the crock pot... That'll make it easier to drain, and may make rinsing a much easier prospect. eithni has an EEEEBIL Plan (tm) that may or may not come to fruition if this whole dying thing gets any more out-of-hand.

My other Thing for yesterday was making 26 cloth buttons for HRH Cotte Simple.

Soon the time of the button hole making will be at hand... And after that, the true test of Saturday's Pattern Making stint: Setting the sleeve!

Comments

[cyano.livejournal.com]

would a 'pack your own' teabag sache work to contain the crunchy bits of the tumeric?

the colors look very nice in the photos!

[mightyjesse.livejournal.com]

The turmeric is very fine, like talc, so I think it would go right through a muslin bag... This is why I was thinking a coffee filter might do better....

[liz-bet.livejournal.com]

that yarn looks really pretty :) I like the variation in the colors on the kook-aid one :)


And I *still* have to get you those buttons for HRH.. i think i have 40 black cloth buttons.

[mightyjesse.livejournal.com]

Their coronation garb will be gold and black brocade... we can use your buttons on it - OR they also got some plain black wool with which to make some other cotes.

Once I've confirmed that this pattern works and fits properly, I can make copies and pass them out to anyone who's willing to make a cote for HRH.

:)

I can give you the first copy and some linen!

[splott.livejournal.com]

Gorgeous colors, but made from food makes me wonder if they'll stay once they've been washed, even hand-washed?

Why not use a big spaghetti colander for the drain/rinse phase? You might have to do it in two batches, but it'd make it super easy. :)

FYI I cannot get on IMs from Kyle's today, his wifi went away with his roommate and will not return til I make it so, and he doesn't have the client I use on my own comp. :/