Moving week... just another head's up -- service interruptions could materialize this week as my blog moves from Blogger to self-hosted space. Am I beginning sound like a worried mama who's child is graduating to the next stage of life?
That's kind of how it feels!
One of the things I did to combat nervousness over the weekend was ride. I'm hoping to clear 1,000 miles before the end of May!
Another distraction came in the form of transforming white thread into different colors.
My grandmother tea-stained many of her doilies way back when I was still single digits. I've wanted to try it myself for many years, and I finally played around with some herbal teas over the weekend. I steeped thread for seconds, minutes and half an hour and ended up with three gorgeous shades of chai!
I was so pleased with the results, I decided it was time to try dyeing thread in living colors. Three tiny bottles of food coloring and half an hour later, I'd completed several shades from the rainbow. Plus a ball of rainbow.
Then I went totally wild and used some cranberry juice to color one more batch.
This was so much fun! I can't wait to try again, but mostly, I can't wait until this batch dries so I can whip it up into something awesome.
loving the cranberry batch, good luck with the move
ReplyDeleteI love those yarns ♥.
ReplyDeleteThese are gorgeous! What kind of thread is it? And how did you do the rainbow ball? I've read you can also use Koolaid (which is probably the same as using food colouring). I saw an article in a crochet or knit mag a month or two back about dyeing with mushrooms and bark and berries, yielding lovely muted shades, like your cranberry batch. Do you have to use some kind of fixative? I have done a little tea dyeing but nothing else.
ReplyDeleteLooks like you'll have to write a tutorial. (I should just search the Internet instead of putting all the pressure on you. But I would love to hear how you did it.) :)
Again, good luck with the move. Congrats on the awesome mileage. You can easily knock out 54 more this month. Three easy little 18-milers, or one good long weekend cruise should do it. (Of course I'm used to riding on the flats. Don't know how you do it at elevation. But I know you can.)
P.S. Wouldn't it be nice if we could get paid to cycle and crochet and blog? But I suppose if we got paid, they might not be fun any more.
Ooh, pretty! I'm loving the purples and pinks!
ReplyDeleteThanks! I'm pretty excited about the thread, too, and I actually worked up two motifs with four of my food coloring hues last night... I LOVE 'em!!!
ReplyDeleteSue, I used plain ol' Aunt Lydia's (because I have a one-mile or so ball of it), size 10 cotton, and I used vinegar to set the coloring and the tea. The thread kind of smells like vinegar now every once in a while, but I still like the final results. I'll work up a tutorial after I finish the motif and, um, special snowflake surprise patterns I've been slaving away at for about five weeks now...
PS: The darker purple (I mean... VIOLET, thanks, Statoz!) and gray with the cranberry is not my hand-dyed but Sara's Colorwave. I needed something to match it, and the cranberry was the closest I could get.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the move!! Exciting times
ReplyDeleteThe threads look great, such a simple idea, you must well chuffed!
Keeping fingers and toes crossed for you as you move... you've got a great deal of valuable, beautiful content and it deserves a smooth, happy transition.
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