Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Dying Delight

Today, among other things, I dyed two skeins of yarn using Wilton food dye. It's overcast here, no surprise there, so I had trouble getting the colors just right in the photo. They are just spectacular in person.


I love using food coloring, because I can use all of my kitchen tools/utensils. However, it only works on protein/animal fiber. It's lucky that I just so happened to have two skeins of natural superwash wool yarn laying around.

There are many tutorials out there if you plan on trying this, but because it makes a great blog post, I'll show you what I did!

Here is what you will need:


Yarn
Wilton Food Dye - I used Teal
Crock Pot
White Vinegar
Gloves (not pictured)
Measuring Cup (not pictured) 
Tongs (not pictured)

I dyed one skein of yarn at a time in a standard household crock pot.

Step #1:

Fill the crock pot 2/3 full with almost boiling water. You could use room temp water and let the crock pot heat it up, but I just didn't want to wait that long. Add 3/4 cup white vinegar. Set the Crock pot to HIGH.

Step #2:

Creating your dye bath.

This is where you add your food coloring. You could mix it separately in a small measuring cup with water and then add to the crock pot, but I threw caution to the wind and just mixed it straight into the crock pot.

It was sort of hard to see how saturated the color was because I have a dark green insert. So to check the color, I dipped a white coffee filter in the mix. Sorry no picture, I was way too involved to snap one.

Once you get to the saturation you want move on to step #3. A word to the wise, err on the side of less dye, you can always make it darker if its too light.

Step #3:

Adding your yarn to the dye bath. You have many options here depending on the effect you want.

For my skein #1, I wanted a tonal effect. Therefore, I twisted my skein first,

and then added it to the dye bath dry. Why dry? I did this so the outside would absorb more of the dye than the inside. My pictures didn't turn out because it was all very dark.

Note: make sure your yarn is fully covered. Add more hot water if necessary.

I covered the crock pot, left it on HIGH, and let the yarn sit for about 45 min. Then I went back, and using tongs, I slowly untwisted the yarn and gently swirled it around a bit. I covered it again and left it for about another 45 minutes or so.

.....................................................................................................................................

For skein #2, I wanted a more solid color. Therefore, the yarn was soaked the in warm water for 15 minutes, then the excess water was squeezed out. I slowly added the yarn to the dye bath and gently swirled it a bit , It should look a little like this:

Again I covered the crock pot, set it on HIGH, and let it sit for about 1 1/2 hours.

.....................................................................................................................................

At this point the water should be clear, and all of your dye exhausted. If it isn't, cover and let sit for another 1/2 hour. If you are happy with your yarn (I was) move on to Step #4. If not, mix more food coloring with a 1/2 cup water and carefully add to the crock pot.

Step #4:

Rinsing the yarn

Using the tongs, carefully remove the yarn and let cool. I just set mine in the sink. Gently run under warm water until no more dye bleeds out. Squeeze out excess water.

Step #5:

Heat setting the color.

Now, because the yarn was sitting in a nice hot dye bath for 1 1/2 hours, this step is probably not necessary, but I threw it in for good measure. I set mine using steam.
I covered and steamed the yarn for 15 minutes, then allowed it to cool.

All that's left now is to hang the yarn to dry, step back, and admire your beautiful hand-dyed yarn! Oh and of course take lots of pictures and show off!

Monday, January 23, 2012

Oh the weather outside is frightful...

Here in Northeast Ohio we have been having the most ridiculous weather patterns. This morning I woke up to heavy rain and thunder. Yes, thunder. In January. In Northeast Ohio. So I thought that I would share with you what January looks like to date. Let's have a look, shall we?


Here is the forecast for today  (courtesy of wkyc.com):

Monday will start out with Rain & Thunderstorms, becoming more widely scattered this afternoon. It will be very windy. Winds: South 15-25, gusts to 45 mph. High: 52 F.

As of right now it has stopped raining, the sun made a brief appearance, and it is a comfortable 47 F.

I think that I'm finally feeling the effects of this weather roller coaster. So please excuse me while I climb back in bed and take a nap.

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Week in Review (vol 2)

I know that this is becoming a theme this week, I meant to post this yesterday. Better late that never, right?!
1.
I have a favorite pair of gloves. They look like this:


I knit these back in 2010. A couple of weeks ago I was wearing them when I noticed they had a small hole between the first and middle finger. That's funny it wasn't there when I put them on. So I took them off to have a closer look.

Sure enough one of the tails had worked itself out. I set them aside to fix them, and they quickly became buried under all the junk stuff that had accumulated in the sitting room. As I was cleaning up, I came across them. Yet another bonus to the mad cleaning.

I'm happy to report they they all fixed and I'm happily wearing them. I will have to remember to do a better job of weaving in my end in the future.

2.
We had a birthday here this week. The Engineer turned...... (OK, you know I not going to say.) What's a birthday without a cake? I made banana cake with caramel frosting. Everyone enjoyed it, and it didn't last very long.


3.
Valentines Day is fast approaching. This means that I have to come up with valentines cards for the kids to take in for their classmates. We've had some issues recently with food allergies (and parents disregard for them). Therefore, I was determined that this year I'm going to send in completely food-free valentines.

I'm also not a big fan of the cookie-cutter cards that you can get at Wally mart (thanks Deb), and each of the kids come home with 2 or 3 of each one. So, thanks to my addiction to Pinterest and my wonderful Knit Sib Larissa I made heart crayons.



I used up all the old broken crayons we had lying around the house. They're not done yet, I still have to turn them into valentines. Stay tuned and I'll show them to you when I'm done.

4.
One of my favorite Disney movies is Beauty & the Beast. The kids and I met some wonderful Friends at the theater for some 3D fun. We all had great time. I think I enjoyed the movie more than the kids.

5.
This week the appliances felt that they were feeling slightly neglected and need some attention. I had to have a repair guy out not only for the washer, but the oven as well. My bank account is significantly lighter, but the everything is in working order, for now.

And because I know that you've been on pins and needles waiting for the update. The house survived the 4 day weekend! I even managed to make some progress.

6.
I'm beginning to recover from my recent bout of startitis. I'm making progress on my Traveling Woman and The Last Holiday Gift. My gloves however are still mocking me from the bottom of my knitting bag.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Going overboard in the process

**Warning**  This is a LONG post!

I had originally intended for this to be two posts, but since I didn't get a chance to blog yesterday, you get to enjoy one big blog today. Lucky you!

Let's start with Post #1:

As you are probably aware, I'm in the process of cleaning and organizing our house. This is a difficult task for me as I'm a bit of a pack rat. I know that we have way too much stuff, but I can find an excuse to keep almost anything.

So to keep me on track, I'm going to start posting pictures of some of the items that are in the process of finding new homes. I'm not near as good as my Knit Sib Deb over here at The 100 Days Cleanout, but let's just see what we have.

These came from a picnic basket set that we had many years ago. I had to get rid of the basket a while ago because it fell apart, but for some unknown reason I hung on to these.


I think that the kids have out grown their plactic IKEA dinnerware set (at least I'm getting tired of trying to find a place for it in the cabinet.) I seem to have collected just a few glass measuring cups. I know they're useful, but really how many do I actually need?


There are also some random items, like old coolers and clothes the kids have out grown, but please forgive me for not taking a picture of those. 

Moving onto Post #2:

The last holdout.

I was very much focused on getting my main floor cleaned and organized. I tackled the kitchen (including most of the cabinets), the dining room, the foyer and foyer closet, even the laundry closet.

All that was left was the sitting room (so called because I like to sit in here and knit). But it was overwhelming! I just didn't know where to start. Let me show you the chaos that has run rampant. (As before please don't judge me on the before pics.)


I started attacking it very meticulously. I set my timer for 15 minutes and started with one small corner. Overall, it took me about a week to cleanup. Since I know you're just dying to see how it looks now lets get going with the after picture!


This is about the point where I went overboard. In the process of cleaning out the room, I decided that something had to be done about my picture wall. At one point I had just slapped some pictures on the wall and they'd been there ever since:
What was I thinking? Please don't answer that!

So I pulled down the old pictures and went running around the house looking for more pictures and frames. This took about an hour or so. Then came the fun part. I laid all of the picture on the dining room floor and started arranging. 

Once I was happy with it, I snapped a quick picture (so I wouldn't forget the placement) and started to put them up on the wall. I have a lot of nail holes that I have to go back and fill in! But in the end I was was very pleased with the gallery wall I created.


Please excuse me while I take a moment and pat myself on the back. Ok, moment over. Before I leave you for today, I wanted to draw your attention to the piece in the middle. This is a shaddow box that the Teacher made for us after our wedding.

I'm embarred to admit tha this wonderful piece of artwork has been hiding in the guest room for the past ummm cough cough eleven years. I want to say "I'm sorry" to the Teacher for having negected it for so long. But, it really is very happy in it's new home. (Please excuse the lousy picture, I'm not a very ood photographer.)


Monday, January 16, 2012

The Laundry Closet

All of us have a space in our home that is just not very functional. Mine is the laundry room Well, seeing as it is only slightly larger than the foyer closet, for all intents and purposes its a laundry closet. And like most closets it's difficult to organize and it collects clutter.

With the repair guy coming to look at the washing machine today, I thought I should take some time and clean it out. I actually took some before pictures, but I'm a smidge embarrassed to show them.


before
(please don't judge me by my before pics)


After
(yes, I really needed four pictures to show-off)

Now, before you think I'm superwoman (ok, you can stop laughing now), I only organized one cabinet and one drawer. My goal was to make sure nothing falls on the poor unsuspecting repair guy. I'm really hoping that he can fix it TODAY!!!!

Friday, January 13, 2012

Week in Review (vol 1)

I have decided that Friday's will be a week in review. My chance to ramble on about the comings and goings that didn't make it into the blog. That being said, I'm having some trouble remembering what I did this week. I will have to take notes in the future.

Morning Routine:

If you've happened to pop over to Fly Lady, and looked around a bit, you would notice she's a big fan of routines. My big push this week has been my Morning Routine. So here it is:

Get up
Make the bed
Get the kiddos ready for school (with help from the Engineer)
Make breakfast
Make lunches
Empty the dishwasher
Run a load of laundry
Clean the main floor bathroom
Get the kiddos on the bus.

It's been working for us so far. We'll see if it still works next week.

Yet anther knitting group?!

On Monday I met a friend at the local Starbucks. We hadn't gotten a chance to sit down and schmooze since the holidays. While we were there I stumbled upon a knitting group. How did I not know that there was a group that met right here in my fair city?

I don't know how I could have missed this! They seem like a great group of ladies. I would love to try and go for a bit. Not next week though, the kids are off for MLK day.

The washing machine fiasco:

If you noticed from my morning routine, I've been running a load of laundry every morning. Yesterday however, I decided I needed to run an extra load. So before dinner I loaded up the washer, hit start, and went merrily on my way.

About a half hour later I hear a beeping coming ominously from the laundry room. Hmmmm, why is the washer not spinning? May it's just feeling a bit tired. So I hit cancel and let it rest for a few minutes. Then I ran a rinse/spin cycle.

Then I hear it! Clunk! Clunk! Clunk! And the washer starts hollering beeping at me again.

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Needless to say, I still have a soaking wet load of laundry that needs attention, and the repair guy is scheduled for Monday. Wish me luck!

Startitis!

It happens every January. I get a bad case of startitis.

startitis: refers to a rarely fatal affliction that often affects knitters and crocheters where they begin several projects all at one time but don't really make much progress on anything before starting another new project.

In the past week I've knit 3 hats:



Started the Traveling Woman Shawl (I know it doesn't look like much now):


Started the Princess's birthday cardigan:


and, started the last of my holiday knitting. Yes, I'm a little behind. I won't show a picture yet, because the recipient might actually read this.

On a more encouraging note, I did manage to restrain myself from casting on this amazing shawl:



I plan on casting on in February after I've finished the 4 projects I'm currently working on. I'll let you know how that goes.

Updates:

I'm making slow, but steady progress on my gloves. I have the index fingers and the thumbs left.


My kitchen and dining rooms are still clean. So is my foyer and foyer closet. I'm also still working on the sitting room. Next week will be our first big challenge as the kids are off of school both Monday and Tuesday.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

I can't believe I actually did this!

As I was trolling Pinterest, I came along this neat idea for the inside of the cabinet. I fell in love with the idea as I always have trouble locating the right size measuring spoon. It always seems to disappear just when I need it. So, without further ado...

I would like to proudly introduce you to today's project! I'm not sure how my husband, the Engineer, will feel about the pink, but I love it!


Let me take you through the steps.

1. This is what I started with. (The only thing I had to buy was the hooks.)

2. I painted the paint stirrers a beautiful pink. I was planning on doing 2 coats of paint, but I was very happy with how it looked after the first coat. Why do extra work? I then pre-drilled the holes for the hooks so the wood wouldn't split.

3. I used a black paint pen to write the measurements on the stirrer, and screwed in the hooks. Everything was moving along just dandy until this point. This is where I realized that the screw was longer than the thickness of the the paint stirrers.

Not to be deterred, I went out to the garage and found these handy things to snip off the end of the screw. (And before you ask, yes I was wearing my safety glasses.)


4. I wasn't prepared to permanently attach this to my cabinets, so I used these hady damage-free hanging doodads.

5. For the measurements chart, I used black poster board and a pink paint pen.

All in all, the project took about 2 hours! And just to update you, my kitchen is still clean.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Flying

Well, I meant to post this yesterday, but I lost track of time cleaning. Yes, I said cleaning. This doesn't happen to me. Ever! Sure, I've lost track of time taking on the phone, running errands, and yes knitting, especially knitting. But rarely, if ever, cleaning. We'll blame Fly Lady.

Today I want to introduce you to Fly Lady. This is Fly Lady.
FlyLady cartoon

Why Fly lady? F.L.Y. stands for Finally Loving Yourself! I really like this concept.

I stumbled on her website a few years ago. She has an entire website dedicated to getting rid of C.H.A.O.S. (can't have anyone over syndrome). I was doing really well for a while, and then I fell off the wagon, and the wagon moved on leaving me suck firmly in the mud. Fast forward 2 years. To my utter surprise and amazement, the wagon has circled around. It even slowed down enough for me to climb stumble back on.

Because I had been gone so long, I decided that I would go back to "Getting Started". How does one get started? I'm glad you asked. You shine your sink. You take everything out of your sink and you clean it, I mean really clean it. I won't go into details, you can find them here. So, I shined my sink.

Here it is, my newly shined sink.

Well, this clean a sink can't sit in a messy kitchen, so I straightened the kitchen. I have been moving slowly around my main level for the last week of so. Which brings me to yesterday and my sitting room.

The sitting area was the biggest holdout. I was ever so slightly overwhelmed by the chaos and clutter that had collected. But what's a girl to do? The other rooms were whispering at me "you can't leave us sitting here all nice and clean with that mess lying around". In comes Fly Lady with her saying:

You can do anything for 15 minutes!

So I set the timer for 15 minutes and away I went. I was so proud of what I accomplished in the first 15 minutes, that I set the timer for another, and another... Anyway you can see where this is going. Before I knew it, the morning had just disappeared. I won't post pictures yet, because it's not quite where I want it to be.

 Glove Update:

I was definatly disusional in thinking I could have my gloves finished by yeaterday.  I made a valiant effort however, and I have 1 1/2 fingers and the thumbs remaining.

Friday, January 6, 2012

Yarn Bombing

First what is Yarn Bombing?

In a nut shell Yarn Bombing is a type of graffiti that uses yarn instead of chalk or paint. It employs the use knit or crochet items to turn everyday objects into a work of art. If you are interested in more amazing examples, just Google it!

Yarn Bombed car

Today I got to be a part of a unique Yarn Bombing event. Playhouse Square teemed up with one of our local yarn shops, Soft 'n Sassy, to cover the Place theater with a rainbow of knit items; hats, scarves and mittens. All of these warm and cozy items will be donated to Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital at the end of the event. (more info here.)

I met two of my wonderful Knit Sibs Erica and Jen for a knitting marathon. We, along with several other industrious knitters worked on hats an scarves to add to the growing collection of knit goodies.

We had a great time!
I also produced my first finished object of the year!

The pattern is Tinker. The yarn is Caron Simply Soft. All in all it was an enjoyable and productive day!

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Sidetracked

I did have something planned for today, but I got sidetracked. So I will leave you with two of my more crazy organizing tools.
Information Center
Meal Plan - I can't take credit for this one, I borrowed it from here.
On the knitting front, my gloves have not made as much progress as I had hoped. I'm still optimistic delusional that they will be done by Monday.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Eddy

Well, it actually looks like winter has arrived here in Northeast Ohio. I'm cold!!! There is no getting around it. The thermostat is still set at the same temp, but I'm freezing! I'm bundled up in a hand knit hat, sweater, and fingerless mittens, but it's no good. Maybe a nice hot cup of coffee will help.



Today is the perfect day to sit on the couch and knit some. In that spirit, I thought that I should introduce you to my first knitting project of the year. Every year after my Holiday knitting is complete (normally on Dec 24th), I start a project just for me. This year I've chosen:



The pattern is designed by Julia Mueller. Her designs are just incredible. (If you are not on Ravelry you can find them all here.)

I'm using Knit Picks Essential in the colorway Sarge. The yarn was a birthday gift from my wonderful Knit-Sib Deb!

I'm just getting ready to add the fingers

For those of you who know me, I always knit my gloves/mittens/socks/sleeves/etc two at a time. Therefore, not to worry, the right glove is also awaiting fingers.

Sunday, January 1, 2012

A new year

First I think I should tell you why I started this blog. As I looked back over 2011, I had a hard time finding any evidence of accomplishment.  I looked at the scale and I hadn't lost a pound. If anything, I gained. I looked around the house and I think it is in more chaos than when the year began. The only evidence I have is in my knitting, and I have Ravelry to thank for that! I was also reminded that people don't think I do anything but knit because that's all I seem to post to Facebook. So I started this blog to have a record of what I'm going to do this year. I know it's very optimistic of me! Please join me on my journey through the winding hilly road that will map out 2012.

Well, it's that time of year again. The time when I make all sorts of resolutions for the New Year. Most of which I don't keep. (Do any of us?) Here I go again. 

  1. Losing, or not...
  1. Every year I say I'm going to loose weight, and every year I disappoint myself. So this year my resolution is different. It's about what I want to gain. I want to gain...

    Self Respect!

    I want to truly learn to love the person I am, and embrace all my flaws. Hopefully along the way I will also find a happier and more productive me.
  2. OrganizationThis is another one that I make every year. I need to declutter and organize my house. This year however I have a plan. I'm going to start flying fluttering with Fly Lady. Have you heard of her? She has has a whole system set up. I'm feeling confident delusional. I've at lest started the year with a clean kitchen.
    Kitchen
    Just don't look at the rest of the house. I'll keep you posted on how it goes.
  3. KNITTING!
    As the title suggests, I would rather be knitting than working on the first 2. This is the big one. I already have a few projects in my queue.

    Traveling Woman Shawl (My knitting group is starting a knit along next week.)Girls Cardigan
    Lazy Kathy (again)
    Prism bag
    Nevis Cardigan
    Ardrum Scarf/Wrap

    If your on Ravelry, check out my queue.

    As the budget around here is pretty tight, I'm also attempting to knit all most of this from my stash as much as possible.

    And last but not least, attack my pile of UFOs (Unfinished Objects).
I think that about wraps up the unrealistic list of goals for 2012. A good year to all of you and I hope to see you along my journey!