I have been dyeing

I have a large amount of a cotton wool blend roving, (all of my real life friends can just shut up right now!)  Anyway, it is all white, and while white may be all well and good, I like color.
A friend gave me a large amount of Cushings Union dyes, that she had when they stopped making the union dyes and started making separate dyes for wool and cotton.

So armed with the correct dyes, soda ash and vinegar, I have been playing with the rovings.
Problem number 1:  The cotton floats therefore the roving floats, and I mean floats, it will float all night, so I took the smallest of the nested pots and placed it inside the middle size, and poured in enough water to hold the roving under the water with soda ash dissolved in it.  That worked once I jammed 2 cooking spoons in on either side to hold the smaller pot straight.  It still wanted to float, but I noticed that after it is in the dyepot, and heating, it does not float as badly.  So experiment number 2:  place roving in soda water, stick pot on top, heat on stove, hey that works much better and the colors I am getting now are darker.  So I may re-dye the first roving since I did have the presence of mind to record the colors that I am using.
The roving looks all matted when it is wet but puffs up once dry. I am having fun.