Dappled light over a tiny creek running across the Green River Cove Trail the other day. We didn't walk too much beyond this creek before giving up and turning back, defeated by the heat. But this was a sweet little spot of coolness, and the light through the leaves fell in such beautiful patterns on the sandy soil, the rocks, and the trickle of water.
Meanwhile, here, we have had rain! I brought my laundry in just in time, late yesterday afternoon, before the clouds opened up. The rain didn't last long, but was a good hard rain while it did last, bringing up all the smells of the earth that had been too hot and dry to smell like anything. Today is cooler, with a high of 89F --- not cool, but we won't endanger ourselves by taking a walk, either.
Slept late-ish and am now drinking my coffee and contemplating bathing and dressing for the new day. Not much on --- both progeny are working, I think, so it'll be us hanging around. I might try to peck out a Sun essay, to get ahead a little bit. I keep thinking I'm going to write two weeks' worth of essays in a week, but so far, in this last burst of work, I haven't done it. Too many other things going on.
I keep thinking my Dharma dye is going to show up --- it's been on the slow train from Petaluma. No complaints here, because slow is beautiful, right? Still . . . today would be a great day for a dye project, if the dye were to appear. And lo, I haven't been tracking that package, but TODAY is supposed to be the day. Stay tuned! As I happen to know, the washing machine is empty . . .
This would be the Sapphire dye that I bought to transform my merino Nordic-patterned leggings, which are predominantly brown. The Spruce dye that I bought for my Sierra dress is . . . apparently still in Petaluma waiting for somebody to make a mail run, but it'll get here eventually. I'm incredibly tempted to use the Sapphire dye on my dress, because that dye is going to be here today, and I'm in the mood to transform things, but I will try to be strong. I have enough blue dresses. So many blue dresses. Well, really, there's no such thing as too many blue dresses, but I want this dress to be green, and I shall stand firm until it is.
Today she's gray.
Here again is a repeat of a basic outfit that I like: charcoal-gray Sierra with tan wrap belt and Birkenstocks. It's earthy and simple and neutral, and I don't dislike it at all, obviously, because I keep wearing it. Part of the reason that I keep wearing this precise combination is that I no longer really like the dress unbelted, and do like her very much with waist definition. And I like the look of this belt, so here we are.
At the same time, I find I'm really looking forward to having the dress be a more vibrant color. As much as I like gray, and as much as it's a good neutral for me, I crave more color --- and luckily for me, the color that I'm craving for this specific dress will go with all the accessories I've already gotten used to wearing with the dress. So I really wish somebody in Petaluma would hurry up and go to the post office, so that my green dye can be on its way.
In the meantime, I'm waiting for my Sapphire dye to land on the front porch, and am going to order groceries and walk the dog a little. More to come, I am sure.
UPDATE:
Leggings, mid-soak:
So far, so good. I was careful about easing them into hottish water, so I hope I can get away with not felting them. But already this looks like a big improvement to me over the original:
There was always something vaguely grandma about this pattern and color scheme, which had been advertised as black-and-white, but turned out to be brown, tan, cream, and lavender. The brown might stay kind of brown, but it will be a lot cooler and bluer (I know, I know, I don't like all that warm/cool language about color, but I hope you know what I mean here --- a lot less like chocolate, a lot closer to charcoal).
On a whim, I also threw in my Snag Sand Dollar merino tights --- mostly because I had all this dye, and it seemed a shame not to dye more than one thing. Sand Dollar was the merino color I didn't wear at all last year, and although I could envision wearing it this year, I thought I might wear a bold blue, as opposed to navy, a little more often than I'd wear taupe. So in they went.
Stay tuned!
ONE HOUR LATER:
I soaked the two items in the dye bath for probably 30-45 minutes. I wasn't really timing, but I took Dora for a walk in the middle of that time. Then I set the water temperature to cold and let the gentle cycle finish out, with the dye. Now I'm washing both items in the gentle cycle on cold, with a TruEarth laundry strip. We'll see what the outcome looks like. The leggings were very dark before I washed them. I wish I'd taken a photo of the tights, because they really were a striking bright sapphire, and they'll probably be not quite so intense once they're washed. But that's okay. I will take a shot once they're washed and I've hung them to dry.
I've never used Jacquard dye before --- the "beginner" level of Dharma dyes. But it seems to have taken pretty well and evenly, even though I was afraid to let the water get that hot.
OUTCOMES:
Here are the leggings after an actual wash in detergent:
They look pretty much as they looked mid-dye-job, which is kind of what I was going for. The dark brown now looks almost black, while the lighter pattern is this shade of sapphire blue. I actually prefer the more muted contrast in the pattern to the original, though that was fun. Now, it's still there, but not as loud, and washed in a color that I prefer to wear, that will harmonize better with my whole wardrobe.
The seams, of course, didn't take the dye, so you can see how brown the colors were originally:
I'm not bothered by this. The seams mostly won't show, and nobody's going to notice the one running down the inside of my leg. Again, I think I'll reach for these a lot more in this color scheme than I would have in the other.
And the tights?
I'm really glad I threw them in. This photo actually doesn't capture how vibrant the blue is. The leggings shots are pretty true, but the tights look even more turquoise than this. It's a gorgeous color, and as with the leggings, I know I will wear them so much more now than I would have in the original taupey neutral.
You can kind of see the original color in the seams here, but not as much as you can in the leggings:
I am happy with how this project turned out. The dye was easy to use --- no harder than RIT --- and time will tell how well the fabric holds it. I find that my redyed Camellia still rubs off on anything I wear underneath, especially bras, even after a year of wear. I don't mind it that much, and I certainly don't regret dyeing that dress, but I will be curious to see whether this Jacquard dye, which is supposedly better-quality, will perform noticeably better over time. At least these are both items that I would be wearing under other clothing, not over, so any transfer would be not noticeable. (Also, it's worth noting that I've experienced no dye transfer at all from my redyed cotton cardigan, which I dyed with Rit Wine dye last year).
Anyway, give me all the blue. Now I just have to wait patiently for cold weather, so that I can wear these pieces.
A THOUGHT:
As any American readers might or might not know, Snag --- which originated in Scotland --- has opened a US shop and manufacturing facility. This is great, because instead of waiting a month to receive an order, you can get it within a week, if it's something they have. So far what's on offer in the US store is a lot less than what's on offer in the UK --- and they're no longer shipping from the UK to the US, so if you're here, you have to order from here. Again, ultimately, this is a good thing. It's good when items don't have to travel so far. But although they plan to make everything available in the US that is available in the UK (and I know this because I wrote to them, and that's what they told me), they're not there yet.
So the merino tights selection for US customers is a lot more limited than it is for UK customers. Now, already the range of merino colors was a lot more limited than the range of microfiber colors, but all you can purchase, currently, in the US, are merino tights in Silver Lining, their light-gray color. Actually, they've sold out of a lot of things, so that I'm glad I bought my two pairs of microfiber tights when I did, but as far as I know, you can still buy Silver Lining merino tights.
That's better than nothing, of course, but it's an awfully limited selection. BUT! BUT! Silver Lining is a light enough shade of gray that it would be a cinch to dye. You could potentially have a whole dazzling array of merino tights in all your favorite colors . . . depending on how many pairs of Silver Lining merino tights you wanted to buy, and how much dye.
I can report that Snag merino tights take dye very well (see above). So if, like me, you were kind of bummed that there weren't more colors available, don't despair. There's actually something you can do about that, and it's not at all hard to do.
PS: Oh, yay, not only has someone in Petaluma finally gone to the Post Office, but my other dye order has made it to Charlotte! So . . . Monday? That could be when my Sierra (see above) undergoes her summer transformation, and my marbled bamboo leggings as well. We're on the dye train here! Rolling, rolling, rolling.
PPS: I just looked on the Snag US site to check availability for those Silver Lining merino tights, and they seem to be sold out of all sizes, or else haven't stocked them yet. So it was a good idea . . . and presumably they will have them in at some point.