Thing a Day

[mightyjesse]

Last night's Thing was more turmeric dyed wool...


Unfortunately, I fell asleep with the crock pot on and kinda over-cooked my dye project. Thus this set of turmeric doesn't have as much of a red caste as the previous batch. It is, however, much closer than the batch before it. Tonight I'll likely work at carding and spinning it so that I can finish Keg's leg wraps by the end of this month.

Comments

[mightyjesse.livejournal.com]

I actually just adapted koolaid-dying-in-the-microwave (http://purecrafty.blogspot.com/2007/12/kool-aid-dyeing.html) instructions to suit myself, since my gallon crock pot holds way more roving than I can fit in the microwave and it really doesn't require much attention. If you heat wool too quickly, it will have a tendency to felt. If you accidently bring your wool to a "rolling boil" you will have a huge mess with felting and tears. The crock-pot takes longer than the microwave method, but it's a lot more "set it and forget it." Even set on High, you will never really get fast enough temperature change to shock the wool into felting, and the crock pot monitors temperature for you to avoid an out-of-control felting fiasco. As seen above in my entry, I'm an absent minded sort, so a more forgiving method of dying is probably best for me. If you are impatient, the microwave method might work better for you.

On a side note, when you dye with koolaid you need to add 1/4 c vinegar/quart of water to mordant your wool. Turmeric doesn't require a mordant.