50th Roast

Yesterday afternoon I roasted my 50th batch of coffee in my Fresh Roast+. I don't know if I have the roasting down yet, but I'm starting to feel more confident of my coffee roasting skills. To celebrate, I roasted 2 coffees that I'm hoarding, my Sweet Maria's Harar Lot 19 and Sweet Maria's Costa Rican La Minita. I roasted both to just under second crack. They'll be rested well enough for Saturday's cup. I'm really looking forward to it. My Sidamo this morning was very fruity and it's silly but I love waking up knowing I'm about to have a great cup of coffee.

On Monday, I dyed two more sections of the self striping yarn. I've been keeping the excess dye in the fridge and just adding to what's there for the next stripes. Here's the dyeing in action:



As you can see I've folded up the two yard section onto saran wrap and then used a sponge brush to tap the dye onto the yarn. I presoaked the yarn for about 5-10 minutes in warm water and a surfactent type of detergent, although a mild soap would also work. Then I squeezed out as much water as I could before adding the dye. I learned the hard way that if there is too much water, the water will boil and felt the yarn or roving, so the less water the better. Also, don't leave white spots thinking the dye will migrate before it sets. Where the dye is on the yarn when it goes into the microwave is pretty much where it will set. So be careful to turn the yarn over and make sure you got everything.

So far 5 sections are dyed, just 7 to go.