09 May 2019

A Good Day to Dye


One of my big metal dye pots was coated on the inside with crystallized soda ash and salt because I'd planned to solar dye one more batch of crochet thread last October before winter set in, but winter came too early. I couldn't solar dye because the jars would have frozen and cracked. I put the pot of mordant in our garage, thinking I could still pull off the dye job as soon as our nights warmed up a bit. But the mercury never crawled above 30 until the last couple of weeks.

I was working in my garden and realized I could re-hydrate that dye pot and use the hot concoction on a stubborn weed patch. Before dumping the quart or so of boiling water, I decided to go ahead and mordant the only hank of thread I had ready for dyeing. I could put the dye jar in the window for a week or so without having to worry about it freezing overnight.


Oh, and the weeds flourished with the rather warm nourishment!! Dang!


So, the weed part of the deal wasn't as planned, but the crochet thread came out AWESOME!


I'd used Electric Blue because that was the front blue on my dye shelf.

I love how this thread turned out so much, I want to do the whole rainbow now. I might even be able to do it outside without an overnight freeze!

Electric Blue




Or maybe not...


Linking up with Busy Hands Quilts and Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

4 comments :

  1. Hey, getting the diamond out of the weeds is a win.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We pulled all the weeds AGAIN last Saturday, Pat, and then it snowed on Tuesday. Again. And now we have happy weeds once again... Never-ending battle!!!

      Delete
  2. It turned out great! I've forgotten about solar dye. So I may do it during the next vacation. Have a nice weekend. Regula

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hope you do, Regular, and I hope you will share your results! It's almost warm enough overnight now for me to put out a few dye jars!!! So exciting!

      Delete


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