Note from Steph: Still no baby. I am beginning to think that Teresa is holding me personally responsible for it’s failure to appear.
In other news, this is Adam.
He is the photographer sent to take my picture for bookbookbook 3, and I haven’t made up my mind if I like him. On the one hand, he seems like a nice guy, polite, funny, competent and with my best interests at heart. On the other hand, he keeps taking my picture, which makes me self conscious, nervous and hostile. Today, assuming Teresa doesn’t free me by producing a child, Adam will photograph me and my knitting friends and comrades and we will likely scare the crap out of him while I hold the following against him.
1. He asked me to buy wool “another time” when he was trying to take my picture yesterday in the yarn shop. (he knows nothing of our ways.)
2. He is interfering (however sweetly) with book writing time.
3. He wishes that I had (get this) “bigger knitting”.
Dude. I have so much to teach him.
Over to That Laurie….
Indigo (Not-So) Blues
“Strain out and compost the leaves, pour the brown liquid into a bucket or other large non-reactive container. Add ammonia (buy the NON-sudsing kind) at the rate of 1 fluid oz/gallon of dye liquid to make the vat alkaline. . . . Now pour this liquid back and forth between 2 buckets for 5 minutes to get as much air into the vat as possible. The liquid will turn blue and a bit foamy.”
We left our intrepid heroines with their carefully shorn indigo leaves immersed and SLOWLY rising in temperature within the makeshift doubleboiler (well-used dye pot + circular cake-cooling rack + three gallon jars and there you are!). And we are very carefully using an old meat thermometer to make sure that the temperature in the jars reaches only 150-160 degrees F. Lots of patience for this step. We let it “steep” in this fashion for about an hour and a half, with the reward that the leaves became leached of their color and the water in which they were steeping achieved a vague blue tint when observed at an angle. By the time the water became a kind of dull brown, we figured that we had reached the proper point.
I will say, however, that I steeped the leaves a LOT longer for the second batch of leaves I did recently and got an awful lot darker indigo color from my “indigo vat.” Of course, the recent success may have something to do with the various problems we encountered the first time in trying to follow the instructions.
We discovered the following:
1) Two PhDs in Humanities type topics can have an unusual amount of trouble translating fluid ounces into the more easily measured tablespoons. 1 fluid ounce equals two tablespoons, so we put in three tablespoons for our gallon and a half of due liquid. Observe:
2) You can pour your fluid back and forth for an hour and it will NOT turn blue. Later we consulted with Rita Buchanan’s instructions in Spin-Off directly (“Grow your own colors: Plant a dye garden” SP87:35-40), and she indicates the color WOULD change, but the liquid might more likely be a dark blue-green. On BOTH dyeing occasions, I would say that the liquid was much more dark green than blue, and the foam was not blue AT ALL. This particular picture reveals the dark-greenness of things and explains the various contortions Kristen and I went through thereafter:
And here is a great picture of the more recent indigo dyeing session in which you will note that the liquid being poured is a nice dark green.
Kristen and I developed various theories – we are not scientists but we HAD done research. We thought one of two things might be wrong: 1) wrong PH or 2) heat too low since we had been pouring for about an hour rather than five minutes. The one possibility that did NOT occur to us was that we had, in fact, mixed enough air into the vat and the green liquid WAS the right color and was ready to go on to the next stage. There were hints that we should have thought of that possibility – after all, the plastic bucket was turning blue
However, we expected BLUE. So, we thought we had better check the temperature (it was low so we put the vat over a hotter water bath) and the PH. So off I go to the local pool store to buy PH strips, and I return –
Let the measuring begin:
Those PH strips are not as accurate as you would like. By now, it occurs to both of us that the original dyers who used this plant probably had no local pool store and must have been able to achieve their goal without all these machinations.
In short, we gave up and decided to try with the decidedly uninspiring vat we had achieved. What can I say? It was getting late, and we were getting tired.
Tomorrow – Mood Indigo
oh adam… he grew on me over the course of that awkwark half hour last night. see you this eveing!
two spelling mistakes in one short comment. gawd.
the spoon was blue…
I’m turning blue over here. Does that count?
Rain OR snow is still in Thursday’s forecast for Toronto. However, all this prayer for snow for Teresa has backfired in that Ottawa has moved up from a forecast of ‘rain OR snow’ to ‘flurries’. You can all come here if that’s easier . . .
Blue with envy? Green with envy? I’m so confused!
I am waiting with bated breath for your next installment. When we visited S�leymank�y (a village in Turkey where they make DOBAG carpets) a few years ago, they demonstrated indigo dying for us, and told about a television crew that complained about the horrible yellow-green color that came out of the dyepot, not even waiting to see it transform into a lovely deep blue as it oxidised.
still more wonderful. indigo grows here in texas i’d suppose, thinking ahead to next summer.
oh; and ah….buy yarn when? as The Buddhist say; “be here now” and the knitters say “buy here now”
You have no choice but to train Adam in our yarny ways.
Poor Adam, he knows not what he has let himself in for- you set him straight!
Definitely buying indigo seedlings this spring- can’t wait for next installment!
Very cool stuff. Wish I could watch in person but this is definitely the next best thing. Oh, and I think that having a degree in humanities may automatically cut off the mathematical part of your brain….my solution was to marry an engineer. It’s worked well for us. 🙂 Looking forward to the next installment!
Holy crap. Y’all are dedciate in this pursuit. Then again, my degree is going to be a lowly BA in International Sociology and Global Affairs, *not* a PhD in Humanities… which also explains why you’d find me drunk at the pub (instead of returning with those testing strips) and railing about the fickleness of green plants turning blue.
I can’t wait to see tomorrow’s installment!
Bigger knitting?!? Dude, that just begs for a rude, size-related reply…
Except Adam looks like a nice chap at heart, and you all are Canadian, so you probably apologised while secretly plotting to teach him to spin laceweight…
The testing strips absolutely crack me up. The ancient art of…pH testing? oh dear. Will tune in tomorrow!
Knit him a ginormous willie warmer.
Laurie, you’re killing me. I do NOT need to get involved in dye, no matter how much fun it sounds like. No no no no no…..
Adam – dude – take a picture of Steph BUYING the yarn!!!! It’s about the only way you’ll get a “true” picture of her “harloty” ways, and it would be a pic we would all relate to. Another time indeed!
Love, love, loving the indigo series!! As if I’m not obsessed enough with attempting 7 pairs of socks by Christmas (only 1 pair on the needles and there’s only 45 DAYS left!!!!!), with some lovely wool and a new drop spindle just waiting to be played with, now I’m wondering where the best place in my yard to plant indigo will be . . . . . do you ever wonder if we’re ALL becoming harlots, with Steph as our Queen? ;}
PS – How could Adam possibly get a more natural pose than you buying yarn?
I hope you will have a photographer to photograph the photographer (and you) in what is sure to be at least 1 more installment to the blog if not several.
I’m also waiting with baited breath of the next indigo installment.
I second the photo of Steph buying yarn. What better picture to grace bookbookbook3 (I still cannot get over the ‘3’. Seriously, were we not just chanting bookbookbook not so long ago?) then of the Harlot herself actually purchasing yarn? And bigger knitting? Oh, Adam -dude- come on!
This indigo dyeing blows my mind. Leave it to a couple PhD’ers to be worried about the PH. 😉 Overthinking? Guilty of it myself-but I can’t wait to see the final results. Is it Friday yet?
The photo ops (opportunities) are endless. The before-buying edginess, circling, the moving in for the kill, the afterglow of the purchase, this could go in a “Collectors Edition” all about the harlot. The “small” knitting could be placed in the extreme forground to visually enlarge it, or it could be photoshopped. (is that a word?) He could get a few shots of you looking at your stash in the closet and in the gravy boat, for instance. He could arrange all of your double points in a radiating circle on the floor with you smiling in the middle. A soft focus of you spinning, in a beautiful lace shawl could be a cover shot. I can think of these right off the bat so the point is photography is creative too. I am also interested in the ongoing indigo adventure.
Teresa is on her own now Harlot. My prayers have brought flakes of snow to Ottawa and it is only Wednesday. Harumph.
Green is good! Green is what you want. It only turns blue after oxidation. I’ve only seen an indigo pot once, but it was a deep green-blue in the pot.
Poor Adam. He knows not the ways of the Knitter. Teach him you must, but listen not will he.
All of this dying business is riveting! I can’t wait to see the next step. Call be ignorant, but I have never seen much or thought much about making my very own dyes! It is so nice to have you here, Laurie!
I love the two Indigo dyeing entrys and already am planing to order plants for the spring….I can’t wait to see how things turned out.
That is what happens when you become famous. People want your picture, and an autograph…soon, you will have to dodge the paparazzi.
Oh, wow! I can’t wait til tomorrow!
I think i admire Laurie as much as the Yarn Harlot must. I devoured your sock wool dyeing tutorial and I’m really enjoying this one. You’re so cool!
Bigger knitting? Funny guy…
Just a hint for Laurie, or anyone else who is interested. A great way to keep an indigo vat at the correct temperature is with an aquarium heater, especially if you are doing a large vat (say in a garbage can) that will be used over a few days or weeks.
I am loving this indigo saga… have watched the process a few times close up and really appreciated the comment about the originators not having a pool store 🙂 What could be next? Hopefully, successful blue yarn. Thanks, Laurie.
I thought at first that “buy yarn another time” meant, “buy yarn AGAIN”, which made perfect sense to me. I don’t know what that guy could be thinking.
I am fascinated by the indigo, and I can feel the heat of the simultaneous indigo plotting going on throughout the blogosphere.
You know what it is, don’t you. He wants you to have long knitting needles with yardage hanging from them — that’s his symbol for “knitting.” Socks on circulars don’t read “knitting.” Betcha anything.
And at that it’s better than the toilet paper brand who, in advertising their quiltedness, showed women around a quilt (you guessed it) knitting. Quilters flamed ’em — the site went down. They fixed it, sort of, but if you look at the label one of the women still has knitting needles in her hair…
Laurie, are you going to auction the resulting yarn?
Steph, are you sure Theresa’s even pregnant? I mean, did you give her the shawl yet? Because I suspect I would be willing to gain obscene amounts of weight and deal with swelling ankles if it meant an original design shawl showed up at my door. Hell, I’ve done that without the shawl.
I’m just saying… still no baby? I’d be suspicious….
Laurie, Laurie… why, why do you tempt me so? Me? Dye? No! And yet, that’s what I said when I discovered spinning. Somehow there’s that magic to the step that comes before this one. I’m eyeing dye plants for the spring–can you grow indigo in pots? I’m an apartment dweller… Of course, I’m growing potatoes in a cardboard box, so I suppose I could give it a try!
I throw my vote in for photos of the Harlot buying yarn. The native in her element. Is there a strategy? A technique? How about a photo essay: “The yarn, from infancy in a lonely bushel basket, looks up and sees the gleaming eyes of one who would take it from string to sock…”
Laurie – Glad you didn’t go for the historically accurate indigo dyeing option…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigo_dye
Please tell me that you reminded Adam, “Size doesn’t matter.” Although I’m sure he never believed it before, so why now?