Friday, January 2, 2009

The un-watched pot never boils.



On New Year's Eve I went down the road to the Brewhouse with my husband and 14 year old son. We had some food which included a glass of wine for myself. I was pretty sleepy afterwards. Before I went to bed at 11:30 (I didn't even wait until midnight) I turned the burners on very low to add heat to the dye baths sitting there. My plan was to add heat for about 1/2 hour then turn them off and let them cool all night. Well....

I fell asleep. As I slept, I kept smelling something that was like dog doo or cat poo. I was sure I'd have something waiting for me when I work up that would require carpet cleaner. My animals don't usually go in the house, so it seemed odd. For some reason, I didn't get out of bed to investigate the smell. I just kept on sleeping.

I awoke with a head ache. Could one glass of wine give me a head ache? What was that awful smell?

As soon as I walked in the kitchen to make coffee, I saw the steaming pots of wool. I had left them uncovered and on a low flame all night! What a stink! At first the wool appeared felted and burnt, but after a closer look I could see that there was still a little water in the pots. Holy cow! I can't believe the water didn't completely evaporate.

After the dye baths cooled, I washed the wool with Dawn again and found that the locks were not matted and the wool didn't stink. It was just the air in my house that reeked of chemicals.

Now I have a big pile of acid-dyed Purple Cotswold! I've ruined fleece with just a subtle change in temperature or a little friction before, but this stuff took heat for over 8 hours and turned out great.

2 comments:

Knit - R - Done said...

I left a crockpot full of wool and dye on overnight. It made the house smell like burnt wet dog. Ew.

Anonymous said...

holy cow 8 hours and its still fine - thats unreal! - my smoke detector let me know last night that i forgot about the rice cooking ;)

p.s the fleece looks gorgeous too :)