Kool-Aid Dying

I have been wanting to try dying my own yarn. So now that I have this little hank of undyed yarn I spun myself I figured now was the perfect time to give it a shot. My 4 yo daughter and I made a trip to the grocery store and she picked out a few packets of Tropical Punch Kool-Aid. Here are our results:

The Usual Suspects

We have had a series of attacks on yarn in my house over the past few weeks. Up until now my yarn has been able to rest in peace in a number of baskets through out my family room. For about the last three weeks that has all changed. It started with the wonderful angora that I bought to make a pair of booties for a girlfriends baby. Knowing that the smell of bunnies might by tempting to my feline friends, I put this in a wicker drawered cabinet I keep some of my knitting supplies in. The next morning I found pieces of angora all over the house. The "suspect" had to work her paw through the opening on the draw and pull it open to get to the angora...Every night since I have found at least one ball of yarn that had been "stalked" and "attacked" in various areas of the house.

Here are the Usual Supects:

Oliver: Male, orange tabby, 9 years old, sweet but not too bight.


Ophelia: Female, Black Siamese Mix, 9 years old, opinionated and scrappy, way too smart for her own good. (See that look in her eye!)

I had my guess but this morning I caught her in the act! Ophelia was about to "kill" the hank of yarn I had handspun the day before!

Unfortnuatly Ophelia doesn't feel she needs to follow our rules and I don't suspect the warning I gave her will do any good at all. I have tried a ton of things to keep her out of the yarn. I am presently looking for some type of inexpensive container with a lid that is fairly attractive (remember this sits in my family room) that will protect my yarn from Ophelia, the serial yarn killer.

Meme

I got this from Julie and thought it would be fun to answer.

4 jobs that you have had in your lifetime
Counselor, Usborne Book Consultant, Home Day Care Provider, Hallmark Sales Clerk.

4 movies that you could watch over and over
I almost never watch movies...now if you would have asked me about books...!

4 places that you have lived
Plainfield, IL, Elmhurst, IL, Seville, Spain, Cedar Rapids, IA

4 TV shows that you love to watch
Lost, 24, CSI, Law & Order SVU

4 places that you have been on vacation
Madison, Wisc, Wisc Dells, Mexico, Cleveland, Ohio

4 websites that you visit daily
Knittinghelp.com, hmm....can't really think of anyothers...unless you count my email server.

4 of your favorite foods
Cheese, Italian Food!, Popcorn, and Chocolate.

4 places that you would rather be right now
A warm tropical beach with my books and/or knitting, snuggled on my sofa by my fireplace with my books and/or knitting, at a favorite coffee shop with girlfriends, in bed! (it's midnight! What the heck am I doing up?!)

4 bloggers who you are tagging
Hmmm....I don't know. I will leave it up to you.

Knitting Olympics

Well I have decided to join the ranks of knitters participating in the Knitting Olympics. My 4 yo daughter has fallen in love with this sweater from Knit Picks. I know a sweater for a 4 year old is not in the same category with many of the adult fair isle or aran sweaters I have been seeing in other's blogs...However since I have never actually completed a sweater yet...I think it a sufficient enough challenge for me!

Knitted Spa Basket

I still haven't exchanged gifts with a very good friend of mine. I am hoping to see her Thursday so I whipped up this little spa basket.


I made the face cloths with Lion Brand Cotton in Natural and each one is a different pattern. I love how well this turned out that I made another one for another friend as well...I may need to make one for myself!

My First Singles

I did it! I made yarn. This is my first somewhat successful attempt and making yarn on my new spinning wheel. My first few attempts resulted in a huge ball of fiber. But once it clicked I was able to fill up two bobbins. I didn't ply this yarn. I was happy enough with this success and didn't want to tempt fate! I will save plying for another day.

Now to figure out what color to dye it and what it wants to be...if I have enough for anything.

Favorite Gift Knit

I made probably a dozen pairs of these clogs for Christmas this year.

Everyone's reaction was so much fun because they were so huge. I could literally see people trying to figure out how to compliment something I had obviously made myself, while at the same time wondering what the heck they were!

Socks Socks Socks

Probably my favorite things to knit are socks! I just LOVE knitting socks. These are the first pair of socks I made! (my son picked out the yarn) I was really quite proud of myself. Since then I have been hooked.


This is another early pair of socks made for me, with Knit Picks Simple Stripes. I currently am working on a pair of Trekking Socks. That has been slow going. I will post some progress pictures later (as in once I have made a little more progress.)

A New Blog

The first post is always the hardest to write. I wanted to start this blog to share my interest in knitting, spinning, and books with anyone who is interested in sharing. Last summer I started a blog to record our homeschooling and began filling it up with knitting. So I figured I would put my "yarn art" where it belongs...in a blog of its own. I began knitting nearly 9 months ago and quickly became completely engrossed in all things related to yarn. I had been interested in knitting for a while and then last spring took a tumble down the stairs and ended up with my ankle in a cast and hopping around on crutches. I figured with all this time on the sofa, it was the perfect time to learn to knit. I had my husband wheel me through Joann's and bought some Lion Brand Homespun (no one bothered to tell me what a horrible yarn this was to work with.) and some bamboo needles. I logged onto Knitting Help and taught myself to knit. I now have stashes of yarn through out the house and more projects going than I care to count and I am loving it!
This Christmas, my wonderful husband gave me a brand new Ashford Traditional Spinning wheel and now I can delve into the world of spinning my own yarn. Spinning hasn't been as easy to catch onto as knitting had been, but it seems to be clicking. I have my first little "skein" waiting to be dyed and it actually looks like yarn! Now just to figure out what to do with it!