After doing little more than reading on the internets for a good long while, I made a break for cooking and eating. Today was chickpeas + chicken breast marinated with lemon juice / olive oil sauce mit crushed coriander seeds and, of course, saltnpeppa. Then I returned to my reading, exercised for ten minutes, whined some in my livejournal.
I don't know if it's a seasonal [dis]order or not, but inspiration and desire for doing things are rising like sap; the only problem is that some winter-y physical 'ennui' remains, coupled with indecision and some material-waste related angst.
The inspiration bit is a strong tide though; it makes me do things like take pictures of the bottom of a new pan just because of the colour and shapes on it.
Seriously. I love bronze, and I love bronze offset by greens. Isn't this all so cool looking?
About this material-waste anxiety, you know of which I speak, don't you? This fear that if you really DO start this half-assed project you're been pondering, it might end up being a waste of perfectly good material? I've always suffered from that, it's a big hit neurosis with me. I have had it with blank paper for as long as I can remember - and as a result of my inability to deface blank paper with my rambly writings, I became a blank-notebook collector, you see the depths to which I can sink. It's not quite like the blank-page angst of the writer, though I know that one well too; I am a masterful multitasker, where neuroses are concerned.
Anyway. One of my recent activities, if one can call it that, has been a sort of spring cleaning of cupboards, by which I mean I not-quite-randomly pulled out old clothing to recycle, setting it apart in heaps for later[soon] reuse. So around 2 this afternoon I figured, since I was too chicken to start on something that might waste precious, hard-cash-valued yarn or fabric, I could at least try to fumble my way towards something with one of these old things.
I chose an old cotton cabled sweater; I swear this thing is about 15 years old.
I thought about cutting it up in strips - I'm starting to obsess about quilting, which I've never tried - but I don't have a rotary cutter yet. I thought about simply cutting various slits and openings and sewing various bits together to modify its shape, keeping it as a garment... And then, because there was a draft, I put it on. And realized how much I like it, still, like wearing it and feeling it soften against skin, feeling how thin it has become with age.
I decided there and then that if I could dye it a cheery colour, it would stop feeling like this 'old worn thing' I put aside for recycling. And if I was wrong about that, well, I could just easily make strips from a cheerily dyed garment, could I not?
Of course, I had no dye. I looked around in the kitchen, nosed into drawers, thought a little bit. I remembered how we used to dye the shell of eggs for Easter using natural dyes, and how onion peel made a deep yellow/orange colour I loved.
I had little else that could be used for dye, apart from maybe spices like curcuma and curry mixes and a pot of fake saffron (very bright orange!)...
So I filled a pot with water, poured some of those spices in it, not much, and added all the coloured skin I could easily peel of the three onions on the counter.
I set the cotton sweater to cook in it for oh, about 30mn. I came to poke at it and agitate the contents of the pot a few times during that, and then I decided it was time to let it cool down.
A while later (I was still puttering on the internet reading about quilting) I moved the whole thing, sweater and 'dye' water, into another, flatter recipient - a plastic container.
As I transferred it all over I got a good look at the colour, and since I wished for something a little deeper in tone, a little redder and brighter, I started wondering if I could maybe try a second round or find something else to use as dye. Of course there was tea, but tea would produce something possibly more brown and less bright, right? I hesitated.
Suddenly I thought of the assortment of frozen berries in my freezer, of which I'd defrosted a bowl earlier for dessert. Raspberries are very bright, huh? And children always end up with their fingers and cheeks stained when they eat the berries as they pick them, yes. Good idea.
Oh, and! I had tea! Red berries tea that could be combined with the fruits to make a reddish dye! My brain was fizzing with ideas, I wasn't stopping to wonder if they were good or not, how practical, I was in the flow. This, I thought, this is what it feels like when you're not afraid anymore, oh yeah, fun!
Unfortunately I didn't think that direct application of crushed fruits would make stains on top of dye, local stains, exactly like those you get when you're a messy berry eater. My sweater is now yellow, stained blue in places, and I have remembered why exactly I get fearful of wasting materials.
But it's okay, this one was due for a second life, anyway. Tomorrow I'll try to get good daylight pictures of it.
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