Trying so hard

Trying so hard to make things work....
Trying so hard sometimes it just dont work anymore
Trying so hard sometimes the work just aint worth it...

Obama's message

Haven't posted since the dead of February - spring has flown by and now we are at the height of the waxing days... Click on the arrow below for a nice surprise...

It's still winter

It's still winter. I'd like to believe the prophesy of the old groundhog on February 2nd - ONLY six more weeks of winter. February is cabin-fever month the time when people with money fly off to warmer climes.

Winter has its up-side. No garden guilt. I don't have to feel guilty for sitting on the couch, curled up knitting. I don't have to feel guilty for not riding my bike or the horse since it is too cold, too muddy, too too...One doesn't have to make excuses for not leaving the house if there is a threat of snow.

So relish these guilt-free days while you can. If the groundhog is right, in another 5 weeks I'll be digging in the garden again.

Dyeing Yarn with Kool-Aid

I've just taken up a new vocation - KNITTING! Am becoming a knitwit with 2 projects completed and three going in 3 weeks. Have always been attracted to fabrics and considered in my youth about designing clothes (several lifetimes ago). Learned knitting from Mom when I was a kid and just recently taught a friend how to do it and decided it was the perfect hobby for me in my tiny 440 sq.ft. house -no place to work on crafts....

So not only am I whipping up scarves and hats but surfed the net through Stumble-Upon and came across a post on how to dye yarn with Kool-Aid. Having just purchased some Lions Brand off white fisherman's wool, I thought I'd give it a try.Here's the scoop...

 

The process is as follows:

1. Soak your natural fiber yarn for a good 20 minutes. The first batch I added white vinegar to the water to help set the dye.

2. Transfer the wet fiber to a microwave-safe dish.

3. Open your packet of Kool-Aid and put into a small dish. Mix it into a paste with some vinegar and water.

4. Use a paintbrush to paint the paste artfully onto the wet yarn. Thicker and gloppier paste will produce more vivid blotches of color. Thinner will produce a paler effect.

5. Alternately you can mix the kool-aid (or Klass drink or Flavor-Aid) into a thinner dye and pour over the yarn, pull some strands out for a more ombred effect.

6. In the picture here I painted the lemonade flavor on the outside yarn and poured strawberry kiwi in the center of the yarn for a great two-tone effect.

7. Now Cook your mess o yarn and fruit drink...Cover the dish with plastic wrap and.I've found about 5-8 minutes on 50% power in my microwave will do it. Remember to avoid agitating wool yarn or it will felt - handle wool carefully and avoid shocking it with a cold to hot or vice-versa rinse.

8. Let your mess of yarn, vinegar, water and fruit drink cool - at this point if you want to pull strands out to have them more lightly colored you can do it. As the dye bath cools the color is taken up into the yarn and the water starts to clear.

9. Once clear or nearly clear - take your cooled off fiber to the sink and rinse it. I immerse mine in the basket of a salad spinner. Then I wash it with a bit of detergent to make sure it is colorfast,and clean of all that extra fruit drink stuff.

10. Spin in the salad spinner to dry the fiber a bit. Lay the wet yarn on a towel or hang to dry.

11. Roll up the dry yarn into a ball and knit!