Queen Anne's Lace 2016, take 1

My yard is full of Queen Anne's Lace (QAL), once again.

Went out today, and harvested QAL. As I did, I cut it up into 2-3":  roots, stems, and flowers. I didn't weigh them, but filled a Halloween plastic cauldron full of the chopped bits. Before I harvested the QAL I put water into a 6 qt crock pot - about a gallon's worth. When the plastic cauldron was mostly full, I went and put as much into the crock pot as I could do, which was most of the cauldron, but not all.

I've been having concerns about my crock pot getting things hot enough, so I let the QAL in the crock pot stew for several hours before adding more water.

I did some testing of my tap water, and figured it to be about 8ish. Not an exact measure, but it does give me more of an idea of what I'm starting at with the water.

The last time I did this, dipping a small skeing in ammonia and it turned it darker, so I'm going to add some baking soda to see if I can get more of a shift in color.

Now, to mordant wool after dinner arrives.