2am ramblings

It's 2 am...well 2:26 to be more precise. I'm still up. I figured I'd be in bed by now. But...there was laundry to fold (crud, the towels are still in the dryer), knitting to do (got 2 more pattern repeats done, 16 to go!), and a bit of wool that was dyed today to be re-skeined.

I took what I had left of Patons natural (maybe a little less than half a skein) and dyed it in the crock pot with 2 packets of Tropical Punch Kool-aid and about a teaspoon of Wilton's sky blue. The result :

I'm hoping it's enough for a pair of newborn shorties, or a soaker at the very least.

My brain doesn't seem to realize that the rest of me is still awake. I'm pretty sure it's already upstairs and fast asleep. I think I'll let the rest of me go join it.

Crock pot dye job with Wiltons

I'm sharing this for my sister, who asked to see my process when I dye wool with my crock pot and Wilton's icing gels. I start by turning the ball of wool into a skein / hank. Now, I don't have a nifty yarn swift, or even a non-nifty one, so I wrapped my wool around 2 kitchen chairs. Sadly, I did not get a picture of this. The toddler was intent on helping me, so my skein is not very pretty.

Make sure to tie it loosely in 5-6 different places to keep it from tangling. Next, I shoved the whole thing into a bowl of lukewarm water with a tiny splash of vinegar added. The vinegar helps the fiber open up to receive dye. I don't soak for long...maybe 30 minutes.

I put a pot lid on top of the wool to keep it down in the water...it kept wanting to poof up. After I determined I'd waited long enough that a proper amount of time had passed, I gently (GENTLY) squeezed the water out of the wool and placed it back on the towel from the picture above. Then I rolled it up in the towel and had the toddler help me walk all over it to squeeze any excess water out. Next it was time to prepare my dye.

I'm using Wilton's Rose, Violet, Black, and Sky Blue. Yes I know purple and black break...I'm counting on it. I don't really measure the amount of dye I put in. The more dye you use, the more vibrant your color will be...however, there is such a thing as too much dye.

A healthy dollop will do...

 To each jar, I added a little bit of hot water. Wilton's icing gels need hot water to dissolve. After I've stirred long enough dissolved the colors in the water, I filled the jars up to the halfway point (okay I got pretty darn close) with more hot water. Now, since most of my colors in this experiment have red of some sort in them, I start off with a very small amount of vinegar in each jar...a teaspoon for the black, purple, and rose, and a tablespoon for the sky blue.

Next, place the jars in the crock pot as best as you can and fill the pot about halfway with hot water. Shove Gently feed your wool into the jars however you see fit.

Set your crock pot to...well...I don't know that part. I just put mine on the "high / 6 hours" setting. You can play around with it.

It's only been about 4 hours, and my wool is happily bathing away. The thing to remember about black and purple is that they're comprised of many different colors. Red takes a small amount of acid to soak up into the fiber, while blue and green need more. That's why I start off by adding only a small amount of vinegar. I went back around 30 minutes later and added more. Periodically, I took off the lid and added a little more depending on what color the water was.

Since it's only been 4 hours, my wool is still soaking in the jars. You need to wait until the water in your jars is clear before turning the pot off. Once that's done the really hard part comes....letting the wool sit there to cool down. You don't want to try to pick it up with your bare hands, it's HOT!! And, if you move wet wool around too much while it's hot, there's a good chance you're going to felt it...and then where will you be? huh? HUH?!

I'll add pictures after I decide it's been cooking long enough, or I get too bored. Last I looked, about 15 minutes ago, it was almost done. In the meantime, here are some links to other wool dying tutorials using kool-aid, food coloring, or icing gels...

Tutorial for handpainting with Wilton's
How to Dye self striping yarn
Ravelry - Dying black with Wilton's (if you're not a member of Ravelry you SHOULD be)

Okay, morning has come and the wool is dried. Something in it didn't set right because my hands are pink. Before I use it or sell it, I'll re-set the dye and see how that goes. I'm just adding the pictures from last night and this morning, explanation at this point is moot.

Still....broken?

Two doctors appointments today...one for me, and one for Tristan. Poor little man got 2 shots. He's weighing in at 25 pounds, is a whopping 79 cm tall and right on track for everything, developmentally. He was not happy to get poked though.

As for me, I had my appointment with the ortho. They took new x-rays and then I sat down while they poked and prodded my very sore, very sensitive ankle. The doctor, then sat back and asked me what I wanted them to do for me.

"Um, make it stop hurting?"

He went to consult with the main doctor, who came over to me and repoked where the previous jerk poked. I was crawling up the walls in tears begging them not to touch me anymore. The main doctor said it was likely ("likely") and avulsion. I have no idea what that is, and I don't think I want to know. But, in the end, they presented me with a walking cast and an appointment for 2 weeks from now.

Broken

I broke my foot. I slipped while going down the stairs and somehow a major ligament in my left ankle chipped a piece of bone. I went to the ER last night, they x-rayed it and sent me home, saying it was just bruised and maybe sprained and I should elevate it, ice it, and take tylenol for any pain.

This morning, the hospital called me saying "ya know what, we were wrong...the radiologist looked at your films and says it's broken, would you mind coming back?" So off I went. I now have a half cast on my left foot, and a consult with an orthopedic surgeon. They should be calling me on Monday to tell me when to come in and be tortured.

For now...crutches and total reliance on other people. I'm so not the type of person to ask for help from others, so this is going to be hard on me. Nothing else I can do though, right?

Sit and spin

I got a spinning wheel last weekend. It's one more thing to add to my collection of hobby things. But the thing is, it seems I'm good at it. I wasn't so good at it when I took it home and tried on my own. Laurie (owner of http://theblacklamb.ca/) gave me a pound each of white and navy blue merino/nylon pencil roving. I was so excited, except I couldn't spin with it no matter what I tried. It just kept breaking if I tried to draft it any thinner.

Well, my friend Catherine in Peterborough sent me a message on FB and said if I wanted to, I could bring the wheel to her house and she could help me out. The next morning, Emily and I drove up there and spent the day with Catherine. It didn't take long before I was at the point of giving up. Then I spied the bag of "good" fiber that had my spindle sitting inside of it. I thought I'd try to spin with it "just to see". The second I got that fiber on the leader yarn, I was spinning like I'd been born with a spinning wheel in my hands (my poor mother). It's thin...not sock yarn or lace weight thin, but thin. It's consistently thin...and the most important thing...it's EASY!


I've spun almost half the bag so far, filling up my bobbin quite nicely. I'll have to do some serious hunting for my camera charger because I really want to take some more pictures of this. The only picture I have is one that Catherine took for me while we were at her house. This is what I started out with :

This is what I have so far: