Kool-Aid Hat Project

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!

I came up with something fun to make for H's little friends, and he got to help! We made custom colored hats, using wool yarn dyed with Kool-Aid.

First I got some Fisherman's Wool from Lion Brand, and wound them into long skeins using these iron chairs. The loops ended up being about 9 feet, and I first made up a test hat and measured to see how much yarn I'd need for each. Then I remembered about pom-poms, so I wound those separately. See the little tiny skeins on the left side of the last picture? Those are for pom-poms.

H was super excited about this project. Here he is getting ready to pick out the color combinations. I only helped by suggesting: "What colors do they like? What colors do you see them wearing?" otherwise the combos were all chosen by him.

Color combos! We ended up picking three for everyone, so a couple of these are still waiting for the third color choice.

Everything was dyed on the stove top. H helped put the packets in the water and by stirring the yarn.

When it first goes in the pot, the water is colored, and within 30 minutes we saw the yarn soak up the colors, and the water went clear.

Rinsing out in a glass bowl in the sink. With wool yarn, you have to be careful not to agitated too much, and not to switch temperatures too fast, or else it will felt.

Hanging out to dry on our decorated balcony. This worked perfectly because there's a ceiling fan above it.

Then I wound it on the niddy noddy, which H thinks is a hilarious name. Casper then inspected the yarn :)

Here's a sequence of three yarns. Soaking in the dye, wrapped up in a towel and hung to dry, and then wound into a ball.

This was a fun color combination. I worried that the purple would be too dark, but once it dried it looked great.

Pretty yarn! I love how the colors looked different at each stage.

I then knit them up together on my knitting machine, and stitched them up.

All finished! We made 6 hats, one for each classmate (and one for H), and then an infinity scarf for his teacher.

Here they are all lined up, and me modeling the scarf. So much fun!

S&B This Week

Here's a little snapshot of our weekly crafty gathering. I still call it a stitch&bitch even though not all of us are stitching :)





C is making the lovely earrings and bracelet, R is knitting natural alpaca baby booties and cap, and I'm making something with blue yarn. I can't show it off yet ;)

We're having a blast and I just wanted to show off our work. I have such talented friends =)


-- Posted From My iPhone

Gardening Things

S&B was tonight, fun and mellow as usual. I'm working on a gift, so you don't get to see pictures yet. But here are some plants.

This is from a cutting of the geranium that Dad gave us. I'm really thrilled that it's taken off. Well, it's still really tiny, but it's still alive, and it's blooming for the second time. Hurrah!

The pepper plants got their new homes today. Well, pots that is. I'm glad they're doing well.

And my in-laws sent us something really cool that I've been wanting to do. They're living wreath frames, that you plant horizontal, and once the plants are established, you can hang on a wall/door. They sent two of them! I can't wait to get them set up :) Will definitely post pictures.

This isn't just a gardening blog though, really! Here's something I want to knit, the Tudora from Knitty. I like how it looks in the blue, but I'm not sure which color I'd want to try making it. I think something like that might work well on the motorcycle in the winter. I prefer the neck warmers that wrap around rather than pull over. And it's a knitting project even I might be able to finish!

Quick Update

I must learn to knit better, if only for this reason: Wisteria. My jaw is on the floor right now, that is so gorgeous. And these colors are very inspiring.

The oatmeal/tan/black sweater is coming along nicely. I finished the front last night. I decided to do a V neck instead of square, since I think it's more flattering. I think I'll put short sleeves on it after all, if I don't run out of yarn. Now I'm starting on the back, and I don't have to make up the "random" strip anymore, since I'm just copying the front. Whoohoo!

The peppers are still growing well, and several more have popped up. It's almost time to transfer them to their own pots.

I realized that I'm going to be paranoid about things I'm making for Christmas or other presents, just in case someone receiving one reads this ahead of time. So if all goes well, I should have a bunch of posts to catch up on in January. I'm optimistic about that :) Maybe I'll get the Wisteria pattern for January as well, since I'll want to make that for me.

I've signed up for a ceramics class again, wheel throwing. I was looking at my fruit bowl at the office, which had a date of 2001 on it, and decided it's been too long since I've played with clay. I may even be inspired to set up my own wheel again.

*gasp* no pictures in this post! I'll make up for it next time.