July has been a time for washcloths - literally and figuratively. I had set a goal to knit nine washcloths this month so I would have a dozen cloths (I had three stashed from last year) to add to Lana's donations to a local charity and tonight I finished my last one. It has been a month full of life's ups and downs. When life hands me lemons - I knit washcloths. It's prayer knitting - and I've been doing a lot of praying this month. Maybe August will bring a little sugar and water - because a nice glass of lemonade sure sounds great!
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Sunday, July 6, 2008
A Fine Finish
- Soaked yarn in warm water for 20 minutes.
- Placed about 12 ounces of water, a few drops of food coloring, and two packets of Kool-Aid/drink mix (see color concoctions listed below) in a one gallon zip top baggie. I did not use vinegar on this batch - I had read that the citric acid in the drink mix is enough to set the dye.
- Mixed the water and the drink mix.
- After soaking yarn I squeezed out the excess water.
- Placed the yarn in the plastic baggie and squished it around really good.
- Put the yarn baggies out on the sunny deck.
- Every so often, went outside to squish the baggies.
- After the dye had been exhausted, poured out the excess water.
- Let the yarn baggies set out in the sun to get nice and steamy.
- After getting a good steam - I brought the yarn in let it set until it was room temperature.
- Rinsed the yarn.
- Squeezed out excess water and hung to dry.
The three skeins on the right were solar dyed. What I've noticed about the solar dyeing is that it is not quite as consistent as the stove top method. I think this is because the the shallow depth of the dye bath in the baggie leaves some yarn "uncovered" - but I like the effect. The skein on the left I dyed on the stove because I had about 2 ounces to dye. Color/flavors are as follows (from left to right) -
- Black Cherry (Kool-Aid brand) - five packs and about half a gallon of water (stove top method.)
- One packet Cherry Watermelon (KA brand), one packet Tropical Punch (Kroger brand), and about 5 drops neon pink McCormicks food coloring.
- Two packets Grape (Kroger brand.)
- One packet Lemon-Lime, one packet Berry Blue, one packet Blue Raspberry Lemonade, and about 6 drops neon blue food coloring - I was going for turquoise and should have used a little less Lemon-Lime, so I tried to compensate by adding more blue!
So that's about it. I spent time with family, ate some really good food, talked to an old work buddy, picked up a few goodies at the thrift stores, started knitting a washcloth, finished knitting The Baby Blanket, and played with color. Though not what some would call truly productive, I sort of feel like I accomplished a bit this weekend!