to dye for

in which our plucky heroine gets experimental...

Since there was no orange wool for my next tablet weaving project, it seemed like a fun idea to try using food color and vinegar to dye wool yarn. After all, there was both a box of gel-paste food coloring and a jug of vinegar in the pantry... 

First step, according to online tutorials, is to soak the yarn in a water/vinegar mixture for at least 30 minutes. Started on Tuesday evening, and continued the project this morning. The now thoroughly hydrated yarn is visible in the Pyrex measuring cup:

The food colorings are much stronger than the little jars of liquid from the grocery store. Gel paste is used to get vivid colors in foods, and is usually found in either baking supply shops or craft stores that sell cake decorating supplies. It didn't take very many times dipping the toothpick ends into the gel and stirring it into the custard cup of hot water to get a deep orange liquid.

Since both food coloring and vinegar are food safe, I had no qualms about using my regular cooking pans for this experiment. The dye, added first to the saucepan of hot water/vinegar mixture, looked a nice medium carrot color, just the thing to set off the olive-y green motifs on the weaving-to-be. The presoaked yarn took up the dye really quickly, necessitating some careful movement of the fibers in the dyebath, and adding a little extra food coloring to get as even color as possible.

Once all the dye is transfered to the wool, the liquid remaining in the saucepan turned clear again. It seemed like a good idea to just let the yarn cool down in the acidulated water while errands and a trip to get an eye exam took up the middle of the day. Once home again, and the yarn cooled, it didn't take much to rinse out any excess dye, and the now much more colorful yarn was draped over the kitchen towel rod to dry...

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September SMART goals (x=extra)

#	THINGS MADE	THINGS FIXED	THINGS GONE
1	charter # 10	bathrobe hang-loop	bag to Goodwill
2	fig sauce	many pokey wires	butterfly chair
3	seraph	dye yarn orange	first leaf raking
4	charter # 11	x	-
5	hat for Thora	x	-
6	applesauce	x	-
7	x	x	x
8	x	x	x
9	x	x	x
10	x	x	x
11	x	x	x
12	x	x	x
13	x	x	x
14	x	x	x
15	x	x	x