Space Dyed Kool-aid and Solar Oven - Denise

Finally a beautiful day to try out the solar oven!! I grabbed another 4 oz (113 g) of Shetland/Mohair roving.

I'll try to outline this in the steps I took so it is easier to follow.

1. I soaked the roving in soapy water for about 1/2 hour while I got everything ready.
2. I picked out the colors to play with for the day: Pink Lemonade (pink), Blastin' Berry (red), and Grape (purple). I put down a damp paper towel and filled 3/4 cup of water and 1/4 cup of vinegar with each envelope of dye. The vinegar may not be necessary; some directions call for it, some don't.
3. I laid out newspaper and plastic wrap on the table and then squeezed out the water from the roving and laid it out in a long "S" pattern.
4. I dabbed on the pink first followed by the red, then purple in a palindrome pattern: pink end, red middle, and purple end (red, pink, red, purple, red, pink).
5. I folded in the ends and wrapped it up like a jelly roll.
6. I slipped it in a Ziploc bag.
7. Out it went into my "preheated" solar oven at 11:00 AM. Temperatures reached around 160 degrees.
8. At 3:10 PM, I pulled it out and let it sit to cool. It was hot! By almost 4:00 PM, I got antsy and filled the sink with warm water and set the whole thing in to slowly cool down.
9. After about 15 minutes, it was cool enough for me. I filled the sink with warm, soapy water. The soapy water helps the wool slide off the plastic and rinses any remaining dye off the wool. I opened the Ziploc and hoped for the best. The good news is there was no bleeding from either me or the wool. Everything was absorbed!
10. I did a final rinse with hair conditioner.
11. I squeezed with towels and set it outside in the shade to dry.
12. Check out the colors. I think Cosmos and Iris Garden.

A bit of fine tuning and I'll have the perfect oven. I think a second black kitty litter pan on the outside filled with wool as an insulator will keep even more heat in. Maybe a bit of foil. By then I should see temperatures reaching 250 degrees.