There was once a pale yellow bucket hat, whose owner wished for it to be a little more neutral in colour. No worries, said I.

I started first with bleach, then used coffee grounds to dye it, but even though I simmered it for an hour, the result was too pale. It was time to bring out the commercial dyes, of which I have quite a selection. But Golden Brown turned out to be too peach. Chocolate Brown made it too red. Navy + Black produced purple. We are definitely nowhere near ‘neutral’, so it’s going back into the bleach and we’ll try again.

The adventures continue.