Yesterday after work I came home and made a beeline for the indigo vat. There were several skeins of the Ocean-Born Mary silk that I wanted to dunk into the vat again to see what depth of color I could make. With a thiourea dioxide vat, there's always the risk that you can only get to a certain depth before the alkalinity of the vat actually strips indigo off the fibers that's been already laid down.
So I did several quick dips rather than dips of any length of more than a minute or so. I did get darker and more saturated hues on the several skeins, including a very vibrant medium green (it did not get to the 'ao-iro' range, but it did become richer and more saturated, and looks nice alongside the other skeins.
I also dyed Rosemary's scarf that I forgot to redye over a number of years. The sky-blue indigo was exactly the right indigo to overdye the earlier indigo, which had not taken well. This morning, after last night's washing, vinegar balancing, and many rinses later, it was a fantastic medium blue color, quite saturated and beautiful. And even this morning it doesn't smell too bad. Not like, as a friend quipped, "...a fishing boat on a hot day...".
Tomorrow is the August meeting of the Loom and Shuttle Guild. I'm looking forward to it. Tien will not be there, since her mom is visiting, but I'm going to go. It's the guild exchange/sale day, so I might be able to pick up some interesting yarn or equipment. We'll see.
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