Here is the yarn inspired by the Iron Druid Series.  It’s not done yet.  I’d like some copper colors in there, and perhaps tweak the blue.  Getting close though!

I don’t know why I should be so happy that handpainting works well in a solar oven. Anything that works in a slow heat oven, should work in the solar oven. I was worried the slower cook time might lead to more color drift & muddy colors.

I decided to test that out & put in lots of short repeats. There are 5 colors repeated in 4 sets on one 2 yd skein.  This could have been a muddy mess.

I presoaked the skeins in water at 3.5 pH.  Then painted the skeins and let them sit for an hour.  It was fairly damp/slightly drippy. I wrapped each skein in plastic, but I am going to skip this step next time.  Instead, I’ll just cover the whole pan set up with a dark plastic bag to make a multilevel steamer.

After painting and wrapping, I put the first skein in a black covered pan, put a smaller pan with another painted skein on it on top.  The pans fit so that there is a gap between the two.  I covered the top pan with plastic and  left the whole setup in the center of the oven to cook for 3 hours in afternoon sun. It was about 75F and mostly sunny.

I didn’t get back in time to get a temp reading before sunset, but the mid-cook temp was 160F.

More on this yarn as I work on the colors.  I am also looking at making roving.  The big question is what to call it.  For now, I’m calling it Kevin’s yarn in my head.  I promise I’ll have a proper name for it soon.