I didn't want to risk felting all my rovings, so I started out with something safer. A cream bag which I love, but never use because pale things and me don't mix.
I just used 2 packets of cherry first, but it was very pink, and I'm not really a pink fan, so a Grape one went in too.
20 minutes later, I decided the bag was as dark as it was going to get, so took the pot off the heat and rinsed the bag under cold water. While I was doing that I very gently placed some of my cream roving into the pot. I didn't stir it at all, I just left it soaking for 10 minutes, then careful took it out which trying to keep it nicely spread out. I rinsed this under luke warm water, then cold water, and left it to drip dry.
It seems to have worked. I love how the bag is so many different colours, but it's pink. I hoped cherry would be red, not pink. I think I should have gone with blue berry instead... maybe it'll go back in the pot another day. The roving has dyed brilliantly, and doesn't seem to have felted at all, but we'll see what it's like when I try to spin with it.
Then I got silly. The water in the pot was still very dark, so much potential, so I went hunting for things to dye. Normally it would be off colour undies, but I've just had a clear out, so a silk vest which I never wear got put in the pot.
I went and ate my tea at this point, so the vest ended up slightly tie-dyed. Or as Porl pointed out "like a Global Hyper-Colour t-shirt that's lost it power"
Porl saw the gleam in my eye at this point and ran for fear I'd put him in the pot. He was lucky... this time. The stained tea towels got dyed instead.
So that was my fun evening. Now I've got the confidence to dye rovings without ruining them I'm going to do some more, I've still got, berry blue, strawberry, orange and 1 grape left to play with... maybe I'll turn Porl a nice shade of blue in the process... he'll co-ordinate nicely with my slightly pink fingers.
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