Experimenting

Today I decided to try something new. Well, several days ago actually, when I decided to make the hat.

Pierrot Yarns had an adorable hat pattern I wanted to try. I had some white linen I'd been saving for just the right project. Hopefully this was it! I finished the hat last night and decided I didn't want it in white, I wanted it in a bright yellow. One of my many magazines had an article in it on dying with different natural dyes, using everything from tea and coffee to turmeric to beets to blueberries. 

I decided to use curry powder since it contains turmeric and I didn't have any plain turmeric. 

My hat before dying: 

It's a pretty basic cloche shape. Unfortunately I couldn't figure out the chart for the lace brim, so I had to wing it a little. 

First I soaked the hat in tepid (lukewarm) water:

While it was soaking, I boiled a pot of water. When it came to a rolling boil, I added some salt and reduced the heat to medium-low. I dumped the curry powder in and added my hat:

I let it simmer for 20 minutes or so, and now I have to wait until it's completely cooled. I'll have to rinse it under the faucet until all the curry is gone and the water runs clear.  Then I'll blow up a balloon to roughly the size of my head (which is rather large) and let the hat dry on that. 

I'll let you know how it turns out!