6.15.2007

Round Enough to Roll

Fill them all up at buildabelly.

Spun by Abigail on Friday, June 15, 2007

6 comments :

Rebecca said...

Warning: Question overload

I have been storing up questions for you for months now and wouldn't do you the favor of asking them one at a time. Rather, I procrastinated and will be BOMBARDING you now, with tons of questions you probably will hate to take the time to answer. And yet, ask I must, because you are the canning and information queen and you always seem to know the answers to my silly inquiries. Onward ho.

I remember your post about the grape juice that you canned using whole berries and then was rewarded with a DELICIOUS taste at Matt's birthday party. I was wondering if you would share HOW you did that, since I can't seem to find a similar method ANYWHERE online. All the ones I see you boil, strain, blah blah blah. ON this subject, too, I wonder if you could can CHERRY juice using the same method? I just got bunches of fresh fruit from the amish roadside stand and thought it would be a good idea. If it could work. And what about blackberries, rasberries, STRAWBERRIES,etc? As you can see-I am VERY excited at the prospect of making our own juice and hopefully that I *may* be able to put a dent in the grocery bill that way. (Juice for breakfast every morning sure adds up!)

Also~your friend tied those fab socks for your birthday with KOOLAID? This brings me LOTS of questions because I think it would be SUPER COOL to dye pillowcases some funky colors for Corynn's pjs. Here are my questions regarding THAT...1) HOW do you do it?!? -This is the IMPORTANT one! hehehe
2)doesn't the koolaid RUN out and 'infect' all the other clothes when washed?

I am certain there was something more but it has plum POPPED out of my mind. Perhaps it will wait until the next question avalanche! ;-)

So, if you would, please email me, blog me or WHATEVER any information you know. I would greatly appreciate it. I am just itching to start some projects and hate being handicapped by unknowns. Of course, it's okay to not get things done by procrastinating...

Thanks Abby

6/21/2007 1:13 PM
Rebecca said...

when I wrote 'tied', I actually meant 'dyed'. oops!

This message will self destruct in five seconds...

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6/21/2007 1:16 PM
Anonymous said...

Hi Rebecca,

This is the friend who died the socks with kool-aid.

Unless your pillow cases are wool (or silk), I'm not sure how well the kool-aid dying will work. I'm pretty sure it works best with protein-based fibers, not plant-based.

However, it's always good to experiment, so you can try it with a cotton scrap, and see how well it works. If it does work, you're good to go, and if it doesn't, well, now you know without opening a gazillion packets of kool-aid.

This is how I did it with yarn:

I put the yarn in a pot, and filled it with enough water to cover it well. I brought the water/yarn to a simmer, then I started adding kool-aid. I pulled the yarn to one side, and added the kool-aid to the water, because I wanted to have evenly colored yarn so the dye need a chance to diffuse. If you were going for a multi-colored look, I'd try dumping the kool-aid right on the fabric.

Keep adding kool-aid until you get your desired color. Some flavors have more dye in them than others. For example, Tropical punch has loads of dye, and will give you a strong, vivid color almost right away. Lemonade, on the other hand, has very little dye, and will take lots and lots of packets to get a good strong color out of it. I think it took 5 or more packets to get 30 yards of wool the nice yellow in the sock. Lemon lime has a lot more dye than Artic Apple. I used Blue Raspberry Lemonade for the blue. Strawberry, Cherry, and Tropical Punch all use the same dye, just different concentrations, and that's what I used for the red.

When you get your fabric/yarn to your desired color(s), I take it out of the simmering water and put it in a bowl of cool water with white vinegar added. This is important, because it keeps the kool-aid from running back out of the fabric/yarn. You can add a splash of vinegar to the dye water, too, if you want. I don't remember if I did. Don't ask me how much vinegar I used, because I don't know. I just splashed it in. It doesn't leave a lasting smell to the fabric; you may smell a faint wiff of vinear while it's still wet, but it probably will have completely dissappated by the time it's finished drying.

Rinse your dyed stuff well in this vinegar/water solution, and then under running cool water, and then let dry. It should then be just as stable as most other dyed stuff--e.g. many, many washings will eventually fade it, leaving it in sunlight will begin to fade it, and nothing can really withstand the almighty powers of bleach. If you're nervous, just make sure you always wash with like colors; but if the dye is bleeding still (and it shouldn't be), you'll notice it, because the dyed item will be fading very quickly.

However, as "kool" as all this seems, it quite possibly is not the cheapest way to do it. The advantages of dying with kool-aid is that (1) you don't have to worry about what will happen if the kids get into the dye (2) you don't need a seperate set of dying dishes and (3) it's fun!

However, since it's main goal in life was to be a sugar-water drink, not a fiber dye, it also has the some downsides. Like having to use a lot of kool-aid to get your desired color. And that makes the price add up fast. The cheapest way, if you were serious about dying fabric and not just doing a quick, small, fun project, would be to buy dye that was really meant for the job.

Rit dye is pretty easily found; check Jo-Anns or A.C. Moore, or any crafty sort of store. I'm pretty sure even Wal-Mart carries it. You may even be able to find it in a grocery store. You can find out all about Rit dye here:

http://www.ritdye.com/home.lasso

This dye will work on all fabrics (cotton, rayon, wool and many others) except for plastics like "fabrics with 50% or more polyester, 100% acrylic, fiberglass, metallic fibers, fabrics with rubber backing or special finishes such as water-repellent fabrics with bleach damage or extensive staining, and fabrics that are washable only in cold water or labeled “dry clean only."" It also, incidentally, works on things like feathers, wood, canvas, paper, and the like.

I hope this helps!

6/22/2007 7:08 AM
Abigail said...

Rebecca,

Flattery will get you nowhere....BUT I will post the recipe for Concord grape juice in my next post (which will be tonight, I hope). As far as other juices go, I've heard of raspberries being juiced with a juicer before being canned, and I assume the same could be done with blackberries, but I don't know more than that. If you're able, you should try to find places to pick them wild (and free!) in order to save the most money and to get the most flavorful berries.

Here's a site with instructions for canning cherry juice (but you have to mash them, etc.), and I'm sure there are similar methods for other fruits and berries, such as strawberries, though I'm not sure if you could just throw in whole fruit, like you can with Concord grape juice, and end with undiluted taste.

The beauty of Concord grapes is that their strong flavor allows for making a flavorful juice without the need for cooking and mashing and sieving, but I'm not sure that all fruits would work similarly.

Oh, one more thing...KABOOOOOM!!!!!!!
(Never you mind. I was just blown to bits by your exploding comment. Thanks!)

Titi,
Thank you. I would have muddled that answer up for sure, and I'm glad you stepped in with firsthand expertise!

6/22/2007 2:51 PM
Rebecca said...

Titi~Thanks SO much for all that great information and the link. As with all new-to-me things, I get nervous, but armed with some information on the subject, I jump right on in. I have never dyed ANYTHING before, with any KIND of dye or drink mix :) but I look forward to trying. Probably with a swatch first. I like the idea of the different shades of color but sprinkling directly on. Thanks again!

Abby~thank you, also for that info and I look forward to the recipe. I hope to get some hands on some grapes secondhand but we shall see. The strawberries may have to wait to experiment with since I have used up my supply and haven't even made the wine yet! Last year, though, I discovered lots of wild rasberry bushes down the lane and we filled our bellies brimful with them and the rest were shared with the wildlife. Call me greedy-but I would LOVE to use them all myself! ;-) And blueberry season is not too far away either, so a visit to G&L's will be planned 'coincidentally' at their peak.

I don't have a juicer or a pitter or any other newfangled machines like that. I have never even seen one so I don't really know what all they do. Just mash the berries? I wonder what I might use in its stead? any ideas?

6/23/2007 1:21 PM
Anonymous said...

I think I need to dispel any notions of me having expertise in the matter.

I have, so far, dyed a total of:

Abby's socks.

And nothing else.

I have done a teeny tiny bit of reading, but. . . mostly I'm just crazy. I don't have the sense to get nervous before just jumping in.

I do, however, strongly recommend test swatches, regardless of how or what your are dying. Mistakes can sometimes be pretty, but usually. . .they aren't!

Hope it all goes well for you!

6/23/2007 5:39 PM

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