Tis the Season...

to be busy and running around like a chicken that burnt its arse. I don't get caught up in the hype, but there are things that need to get done, whether I like it or not. I'm not having a tree this year because my daughter would just pluck all the ornaments off to play with. I wrapped garland with lights and strung that up, instead. I didn't knit anything for gifts, except one hat that was requested last Christmas, but Christmas shopping is almost complete (the bane of my existence), thank goodness. All that's left is baking and cooking and visiting and I'm having a small dinner party next Saturday with friends, as I won't be able to see them during Christmas...blah, blah, blah. [sigh]

Now that I've gotten that off my chest, I did manage to do some knitting in the car and I finished the back and left front of my Ribby Cardi.



This colour, wisteria, wasn't captured very well by the camera. It is quite a bit lighter than what you see here.




Last night, I decided to take the plunge and start a project I've been dilly-dallying over for the last year or so.

Kool-aid dyeing.

I bought a ball of Paton's Classic Merino in winter white and made hanks by wrapping it around hand/elbow 25 times. I soaked them in warm water and vinegar for about 15 minutes or so, then gently squeezed out the water. I mixed each Kool-aid packet with 1/4 cup of water, poured it on the wool and nuked it on high for 2 minutes. Then I let it rest for 2 minutes. Then, once again, nuked it on high for 2 minutes. I let it cool, rinsed it out and hung it to dry. This is the result, from top to bottom,

Orange,
Blue Moon Berry, (my favorite)
Strawberry/Kiwi,
Grape,
and the last one I decided to experiment, so I dyed the hanks in Solar Strawberry Starfruit and sprinkled Ice Blue Raspberry Lemonade dry, from the packet on the top.
I don't care for it, but it was something to try to see how it would work.





Since I couldn't find any lemonade or Cherry Kool-aid, if you can believe it, I dug out the Wilton food colouring. I only have the primary colours, plus brown in the Wilton, so the green was mixed the good old-fashioned way, using blue and yellow. Not bad and they're very vibrant. They just don't smell as good as the hanks dyed with Kool-aid.




I've also started on a list of projects I want to knit in 2005 . It should be ready sometime tomorrow, or the day after. Until then,

Happy Knitting...