An Important PSA

If you have ants in your backyard, it's probably not a good idea to let your yarn hang out with the ants to dry. If you do this, there's a good chance you'll being a small colony of them back into the house with you. And find them the next morning while trying to fix breakfast.

Not pretty.

There's More than One Way to Cook your Yarn

Today I tried my hand at multicolored yarn! This is another skein of the KnitPicks Bare sock yarn. I used Jacquard Acid Dyes in Chartruese and Sapphire and cooked this puppy in....a crock pot!

I suppose I should have taken the step by step photos but I didn't have time today so let me see if I can explain for future reference.

First I put my yarn to soak with a drop of vinegar. I have an old crockpot that I don't ever use so it is now my designated dyeing pot. I mixed my dye up (1/4 tsp dye powder with 1" of water and 2 Tbsp vinegar) in plastic bottles, thenplaced about half the yarn in the bottom of the crockpot. I poured half the blue dye on one side of the pot and the green on the other, then layered on the rest of the yarn and poured the rest of the dye on top, keeping the sides seperate.

I know it sounds like it should all mix and muddy up, but I had two distinct sides - green and blue. I covered it and turned it on low and let it sit for a few hours. The blue exhausted rather fast, the green never did totally exhaust. I turned it off and let the yarn cool off until it was room temperature. Then I rinsed it and hung it to dry.

Notes - I need to get a different type of bottle...a small squirt bottle or a few eyedroppers would work well to get the dye on the yarn. Also, to avoid the white patches I need to overlap my colors some. The white patches don't bother me on these colors at all, but if I don't want them I need to push my colors together more.

Farm Days!

Today we took the kids to a local historical farms where they were celebrating the Farmskills Days...there were different booths and people talking about candle making, weaving, pottery, a civil war camp, we toured the historical house on site...it was a great day to get out!

We also went last year and were hoping we could catch a sheepdog demonstration again - lucky us! Toby even got to pet a sheep!

Luci LOVED watching the dogs chase the sheep.

We ate lunch there - they had huge grills up and running. Yum!

Before we left we watching a clogging show. Luci LOVED it...as in, her face lit up and she was enthralled -

Toby like watching the dancers too...
It was so nice to get out and do something close to home! And it's finally drying up around here - we had about an inch of rain from this last system to go through.

Well, it's about time for me to tuck Toby into bed so I'm cutting this short...

Chel :)

A September Nor'easter

Day 2 of wind and rain.l Yesterday was cloudy, gloomy, windy and blustery. A nice day to stay in and nap (anyone want to give Luci the official desecription of a good day to nap? She refused to nap at all yesterday afternoon).

Last night was our last night of swim class! I think all of us are going to miss going - the kids especially, but mom and dad too...it's a good way to wear the kids out! Last night the instructor was teasing Toby and asked him where he comes from...he thought about it and answered, "Mommy!" Too cute :)

I brought my camera and got a picture of Toby and Daddy. I was holding Luci and didn't want to make Curtis try to hold two while I took a picture, so I just took the two of them.

Curtis is in Raleigh this morning and the kids and I are having a quiet morning at home. Luci was up early again, but went down well for her morning nap. Toby was up again last night (I don't know what is up with these night wakings!), but he slept in this morning to make up for it.

Not a whole lot going on here right now. There are some fun things going on around here this weekend so if it dries out we will be getting out. Cross your fingers!

Dyeing to dye

Wanted to bookmark a site for further reference...I am going to try crockpot dyeing next!

http://www.kaleidocherry.com/dyeing/crockpot.htm

Sock Yarn and More Sock Yarn!

First up, I finished this hat and matching socks last week. I sadly ran out of yarn and the very tip top of the hat and had to substitute with another color - could be a better match, but it's ok. And DD won't leave the hat on for anything - of 20 attempted pic, this is the only one where the hat stayed on.



Today I tried dyeing for the first time! I started with KnitPicks Bare sock yarn (merino nylon mix).
Here it is soaking before immersion in the dye
My pot of yarn! I boiled it for almost an hour and still not all the dye was exhausted, so I went ahead and pulled it. I hope it didn't hurt anything to do so, but that's why this was my first run!
Finally, drying outside. It started threatening rain soon after so I pulled it in the house to finish. I love the shade of blue!It's still pretty wet - I have no idea how long yarn takes to dry! I will update more when I have more to update (ummmm.....stating the obvious?)

Ah, fall!

I know, I know, yet another post gushing about the virtues of fall. What can I say? I was tired of summer!

Yesterday we went to the NC Turkey Festival. I think I had high hopes that it would rival the grandeur of the Pork Festival, but alas, it just did not. But we got out of the house and it was free, so I can't complain too much.

Here's Luci (in a jacket!!!! Thanks, fall!!!) at the Turkey Festival

Both kids at the Turkey Festival...I don't know what they were watching, but it sure had their attention!
Out back swinging yesterday afternoon.
Luci in her new hat and socks I knitted for her. She won't leave the hat on - boo!
Today I dyed yarn - a new venture! It's still drying but I think I did it right :) Curtis was busy with school work today. It's been a nice (cool!) weekend...highs in the mid 70's. AHHHHHHH.