Sheep Shots: Uncle!

Monday, August 07, 2006

Uncle!

After 8 days, I could wait no longer. I like the color (or the color it will be), I just can't wait!

Besides, the dye is taking on a distinct, um, stink. Sort of earthy, spicy, composty smelling, um, stink. I'm pretty sure it will air out. Oh, FSM, let it be so. . .

I've joined a Natural Dyeing listserve and posted my first/only question: Do I drain and dry, then wash/rinse and dry again, or drain, rinse, then dry?

Twenty-four hours later, I haven't received a response, so I'm winging it! Flying by the seat of my pants. I'm gonna drain it, hang it until tomorrow night, then rinse and dry completely.

I figure, it can't hurt to dry it first, but if I rinse it first, there's no going back.

We shall see.

The dye bath is foamy, and kind of fermenting, but there's still lots of pigment left, so I decided to give it another whirl. Actually, I decided to give my sassafras-dyed cotton another whirl to see if I can get a deeper shade.

First, I fished out most of the VM. I've already experienced picking VM out of this cotton!

I soaked the yarn in warm water, squeezed out the excess, and stuffed it right on into that jar-o-dye.

There's lots more bulk/yardage/weight than there was of the wool and it's pretty well filling the jar.

The dyebath is looking a whole bunch lighter, too. Hmmm. Wonder what the outcome will be.

Brighter cotton? Muddier yellow?

I have absolutely nothing to lose.

If the color is acceptable, I'll use it for a 5-hour baby sweater. If it's too dull for a baby, dishcloths 'r' us!

The saga of the ceiling continues: The contractor who had us remove the tiles was back today. The news, sports fans, is not good. Lord knows who or how, or even why the central air was installed the way it was, but it wouldn't pass current codes. Oh, my, no.

Stay tuned.

// posted by Ann @ 8/07/2006 04:37:00 PM

Comments:

Welcome to the stinky, colourful, twig-filled world of natural dyeing!

Oh, and I always rinse right away.

# posted by

Rabbitch : 8:40 PM

I LOVE the color of that yellow yarn.. its almost the shade of Tumeric. I found a source for all sorts of different natural dyes and am planning on getting myself some jars and cooking up some stinky dye myself.

# posted by

Mouse : 9:30 PM

Oh, joy. Welcome to the world of Current Codes.

The yellow yarn looks good now, can't wait to see what the next batch looks like. Official now, are we?

# posted by

Carrie K : 1:43 PM

Hey Anne, with everything going on I'm not going to be able to do the mittens afterall. With Nick's broken leg and now cancer I'm running around in circles. Could I do something else like donate a prize? e-mail me if you'd like at basilbirdy@hotmail.com and let me know if you'd like that.

# posted by