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This site is a member of WebRing. To browse visit here. Sunday, March 25, 2007 Playing with color I was pretty sure last night that I'd gotten the yarn too bright a yellow. It was the same yellow as the kitchen of my last house when I moved into it, about which I said, "This goes or I go." And this morning, after the skein had mostly dried, it wasn't any better. So I cut off a foot long strand of it and played with some food colors on a white plate to see how I could tone it down a bit. Admittedly, food colors aren't guaranteed to give the same result as one-shot chemical dyes, but all I wanted was to see whether I could shift it a bit away from that "Buttercup" shade on the label of the dye container. You tone down a color by introducing its complement. On the color wheel, the complement of bright yellow is purple. So I mixed a drop of red with a drop of blue in a measuring cup, stirred it up well, and then syringed up about 30cc of it. I squirted that along the length of yarn on the plate, squeezed it in, and sure enough, it did exactly what I wanted. The color shifted toward gold, because of the red in the mixture, and the blue toned it down so it wasn't a bright gold. I took them both outside to check in daylight before continuing with the actual dyes, and then mixed a very dilute solution of approximately 1/8 teaspoon of "Cherry" and "Cornflower" dye in a cup of boiling water. Wow. Instant grape Kool-Aid, not that you'd want to drink it.I put only half of that into the dye bath with the yarn and simmered it for about 15 minutes. The yellow was still too bright, so I added half of what was left and simmered a while longer.Here is a totally uninspiring view of my stove, with what used to be the candy thermometer on the side of the dye pot. I say "used to be" because it really shouldn't be used again for candy. The measuring cup (which I had already retired from using for food because some bright person decided to pour hot fat into it and partially melted the bottom) is holding the last little bit of the purple before I dumped it into the dye pot.The yarn is now a goldish-yellow, and in places there is the faintest haze of purple, where some strands took up the color faster than others--no doubt due to the fact that I was too lazy to stir it constantly. I love the effect, even more so because it was accidental.It's obvious that I can't continue to dye in my soap pot, though. Trying to gauge whether a dye bath is exhausted when you're staring down into a dark blue speckled enamel pot is impossible. But the local True Value has a nice white pot that I decided not to buy the last time I was there. It's not big enough for a huge amount of yarn or fiber at one time, but I expect I'll be doing small quantities for the time being anyway.More pictures after the yarn dries and I swatch a bit of it to see how it will look in the actual garment. And then I need to do small amounts of pink, green and blue, and perhaps some more purple. I think I'm going to wait on those until after I have the new dye pot, which means sometime later this week, since tomorrow is a drive-to-Tidewater-and-Fredericksburg day, boo hiss. Much more fun to play with fiber than to drive for eight or ten hours two days in a row, and pay for a hotel stay in between. If I didn't have to bring Clarence, I could go to Fredericksburg first and stay Monday night with Kate, whom I haven't seen since New Years, dammit! posted by Liz @ 10:43 AM | The template is set to display 10 posts. To see all the posts for this month, click on the month name in the Archive section RSS Feed PERSONAL Send email toliz at life-as-a-spectator-sport.com Home I'm a mother, grandmother, a computer professional, Democrat, Christian. I welcome politely worded comments and email, my spam filter throws the rest away, so don't bother to flame me WHY 'LIFE AS A SPECTATOR SPORT' "If you're lucky not to live in the gutters of a slum, but still can't afford to take vacations in the Alps, you're part of that enormous middle class who lives life through the medium of the television, further separated from "real" life by air conditioner, by automobile, by dishwasher, microwave and ice-in-the-door refrigerator, by automatic washer and dryer, and all the other appliances and conveniences that make it possible for America to live life at second hand. I'm not sure why Americans decided that televised drama was better than the real thing, that cardboard microwave food containers were an adequate substitute for real dishes, and their contents for real food, or that cooking, dishwashing and face-to-face conversation wasn't worth the effort and time it required. Someone fed this nation a plastic crate of out-of-season tomatoes and told us it was life and we took them at their word, and we're so much the poorer for it that it's hard to know where to start to list the shortcomings." I wrote this a couple of years ago, but I have to admit it's much less amusing than I thought it would be to see the artifical construct falling apart. THE NON-ELECTRIC HOME Cleaning, 1 Cleaning, 2 Cleaning, 3 KNITTING BLOGS Extravayarnza Knitting Heretic Mind of Winter Pie Knits Persistent Illusion See Eunny Knit The Keyboard Biologist Taleweaver's Ramblings TECHnitting Wendy Knits FINISHED PROJECTS -------FINISHED IN 2006------- Peruvian Cap Tutti-Frutti Socks Shelley's Socks Carol's Socks -------FINISHED IN 2007------- Chain Link Socks Baby Surprise Jacket Valerie & Friend Baby Bonnet Rainbow Baby Socks Girls Pixie Hood Mitred Square Heart Red & White Socks Coffee Cup Pot Holder Nubbins Dishcloth Garterlac Dishcloth Suede Booties Kate's Socks Norwegian Sweet Baby Cap Half Thumbless Mittens Red Mittens for Akkol -------FINISHED IN 2008------- SELF-RELIANCE AND THE FUTURE -- Blogs and websites -- Causubon's Book Club Orlov Food Storage Made Easy From the Wilderness In the Wake Listening to Katrina Survival Topics The Modern Homestead The Oil Drum Notes from a Hillside Farm -- Mailing Lists -- 12vdc Power Living on the Land Rainwater Refrigeration Alternatives Old Ways of Living POLITICAL BLOGS and SITES The political sites have moved BOOKS I'M READING How to Grow More Vegetables, etc. Small Scale Grain Raising ARCHIVES February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 August 2008 July 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February 2002 Feedjit Live Blog Stats
I was pretty sure last night that I'd gotten the yarn too bright a yellow. It was the same yellow as the kitchen of my last house when I moved into it, about which I said, "This goes or I go." And this morning, after the skein had mostly dried, it wasn't any better. So I cut off a foot long strand of it and played with some food colors on a white plate to see how I could tone it down a bit. Admittedly, food colors aren't guaranteed to give the same result as one-shot chemical dyes, but all I wanted was to see whether I could shift it a bit away from that "Buttercup" shade on the label of the dye container. You tone down a color by introducing its complement. On the color wheel, the complement of bright yellow is purple. So I mixed a drop of red with a drop of blue in a measuring cup, stirred it up well, and then syringed up about 30cc of it. I squirted that along the length of yarn on the plate, squeezed it in, and sure enough, it did exactly what I wanted. The color shifted toward gold, because of the red in the mixture, and the blue toned it down so it wasn't a bright gold. I took them both outside to check in daylight before continuing with the actual dyes, and then mixed a very dilute solution of approximately 1/8 teaspoon of "Cherry" and "Cornflower" dye in a cup of boiling water. Wow. Instant grape Kool-Aid, not that you'd want to drink it.I put only half of that into the dye bath with the yarn and simmered it for about 15 minutes. The yellow was still too bright, so I added half of what was left and simmered a while longer.Here is a totally uninspiring view of my stove, with what used to be the candy thermometer on the side of the dye pot. I say "used to be" because it really shouldn't be used again for candy. The measuring cup (which I had already retired from using for food because some bright person decided to pour hot fat into it and partially melted the bottom) is holding the last little bit of the purple before I dumped it into the dye pot.The yarn is now a goldish-yellow, and in places there is the faintest haze of purple, where some strands took up the color faster than others--no doubt due to the fact that I was too lazy to stir it constantly. I love the effect, even more so because it was accidental.It's obvious that I can't continue to dye in my soap pot, though. Trying to gauge whether a dye bath is exhausted when you're staring down into a dark blue speckled enamel pot is impossible. But the local True Value has a nice white pot that I decided not to buy the last time I was there. It's not big enough for a huge amount of yarn or fiber at one time, but I expect I'll be doing small quantities for the time being anyway.More pictures after the yarn dries and I swatch a bit of it to see how it will look in the actual garment. And then I need to do small amounts of pink, green and blue, and perhaps some more purple. I think I'm going to wait on those until after I have the new dye pot, which means sometime later this week, since tomorrow is a drive-to-Tidewater-and-Fredericksburg day, boo hiss. Much more fun to play with fiber than to drive for eight or ten hours two days in a row, and pay for a hotel stay in between. If I didn't have to bring Clarence, I could go to Fredericksburg first and stay Monday night with Kate, whom I haven't seen since New Years, dammit!
The template is set to display 10 posts. To see all the posts for this month, click on the month name in the Archive section
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PERSONAL
WHY 'LIFE AS A SPECTATOR SPORT'
"If you're lucky not to live in the gutters of a slum, but still can't afford to take vacations in the Alps, you're part of that enormous middle class who lives life through the medium of the television, further separated from "real" life by air conditioner, by automobile, by dishwasher, microwave and ice-in-the-door refrigerator, by automatic washer and dryer, and all the other appliances and conveniences that make it possible for America to live life at second hand. I'm not sure why Americans decided that televised drama was better than the real thing, that cardboard microwave food containers were an adequate substitute for real dishes, and their contents for real food, or that cooking, dishwashing and face-to-face conversation wasn't worth the effort and time it required. Someone fed this nation a plastic crate of out-of-season tomatoes and told us it was life and we took them at their word, and we're so much the poorer for it that it's hard to know where to start to list the shortcomings." I wrote this a couple of years ago, but I have to admit it's much less amusing than I thought it would be to see the artifical construct falling apart.
THE NON-ELECTRIC HOME
Cleaning, 1 Cleaning, 2 Cleaning, 3
KNITTING BLOGS
Extravayarnza Knitting Heretic Mind of Winter Pie Knits Persistent Illusion See Eunny Knit The Keyboard Biologist Taleweaver's Ramblings TECHnitting Wendy Knits
FINISHED PROJECTS
SELF-RELIANCE AND THE FUTURE
POLITICAL BLOGS and SITES
BOOKS I'M READING
How to Grow More Vegetables, etc. Small Scale Grain Raising
ARCHIVES
February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 August 2008 July 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February 2002
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