A Clean Baby is a Happy Baby

I am happy to report that isn't going to be another post with me saying ain't nothing going with my knitting.

Hallelujah! I made something!

With all of the craziness going on and the knitting block, I wasn't prepared for Martha's (Baby Legall's Mom) baby shower. The BSJ yarn is being balled by Suzy as I type this post.

I couldn't afford to buy a present and I couldn't go empty handed, so I decided to make some simple washcloths. I read on several sites that handmade washcloths were a great baby shower gift, so I decided to make some. I wanted to make 4, but only finished 2, because the first one I made was really really ugly and I didn't start making them until the morning of the shower.

Martha seemed pleased with them and I told her that I would make her a couple of more. I personally believe that you can never be too clean and babies are always making a mess.

Making the washcloths was a great project to work with my current state of mind and budget. They were simple to make and cotton is a cheap material. I would recommend others to make wash cloths for baby shower gifts. Washcloths are a great way to practice new patterns/stitches. I have a feeling I will be making more of them soon. I have been dying to try patterns from the Knit Purl book that I bought a few months ago.

I promised Martha that I would complete the BSJ shortly. I am not going to use the two colors together for the next jacket. I really didn't like the way the colors looked together. I still have to use two strains at one, because of the size that I am trying to achieve.

Houston, We Have a PROBLEM!

It is official that I no longer know how to knit. Or that I have the attention span of a ti-ti fly.

Today was laundry day and I figured I would get in a little laundromat knitting. So I grabbed Mr. Crawford's scarf and headed to the laundromat. Surprisingly, it wasn't packed so I was able to get a seat. (Did everyone leave Brooklyn this weekend? I guess I missed the memo to get out of town. Too bad cause I could use a couple of days out of New York. I think I need to cash my miles in really soon.)

Anyways, I totally screwed up the scarf. It is not completely over, because I have my lifeline, but my lifeline is really far down. If I have to go that far down, then I will really spiral deeper into my knitting depression.

I don't know what is going on. I am fucking everything up.

UGH! Maybe I need to retire from knitting until I get my life in order. Maybe my mind isn't settled, because I am too busy trying to figure out how to fix this mess I call my life.

So right now I have a jacked up sweater and a jacked up scarf on the needles. UGH! What happened to the days when I had things on my needles forever and there were no major mistakes? I guess my knitting is representing my screwed up state of my mind.

Wish me luck. I am going to attempt to fix the scarf and put in a new lifeline.

Frogging, Swiming and Eating

UGH! UGH! UGH!

Baby Legall is coming next month and I have NOTHING for her. I was chugging along with the multi-colored BSJ. I got a third of it done; I started feeling like I was going to be ready for next weekend's baby shower. I pulled it out on Thursday night and noticed that it was turning into a big mess! It has snags in it and I dropped a stitch. I NEVER drop stitches. How did that happen? This poor baby is not going to have a jacket when she is born. Thank god she is coming in August and it is still going to be hot. Guess I need to go the store and get an impersonal present, so I don't go to the party empty handed.

I guess I will frog the BSJ today. :(

Again, I am writing another post saying the same thing. "I ain't got nothing going on with my knitting, so I am going to talk about something non knitting related."

Yesterday was another hot day in Brooklyn, so I decided to do something out of the ordinary. I wanted to go swimming/play in some water. My first idea was to go to Spa Castle in Flushing, Queens, but it is in Flushing and it cost 45 dollars just to go in (that doesn't include spa services, food, drinks or anything else extra). After a few minutes of pouting, I realized that I live in Brooklyn and Brooklyn is the home of Russian immigrants, so why not go to a Russian Bath House.

After a little research I realized that I live blocks away from the Coney Island Banya. (A banya is a Russian public bath in Russian can refer to any kind of steam bath, but usually refers to the Russian type of sauna.) Once I realized I was steps away from a pool, I knew that is where I was going to spend my day.
The only problem was that my two besties (Suzy and Amanda) that was supposed to chill with can't swim and didn't have any interest in spending their day in water, so I texted my road dawg "Momo" and of course she was down.

2 hours later Mo and I were standing in front the Banya. Trying to figure out if we should go in or not. As soon we walked in and we meet Victoria. Immediately, I was in love. She was very warm and welcoming. She didn't even blink at the two black dykes rolling into a Russian bath house.

I asked her if we could take a look around to see what the facility looked like. She gave us a tour. The place was really small. They have two dipping pools one hot and one cold. Two saunas one wet and one dry and one steam room. She also explained if we wanted to drench ourselves in freezing cool water all we had to do was pull a string to get ice cold water. I wasn't sure what she was talking about; only thing I knew is that I was ready to jump in.

The surprising thing was that even though the it is over 90 degrees outside there are only 10 people in there . We decided to stay. As we are paying, Victoria told us about the restaurant (which sounded amazing) and then we headed upstairs to the changing room.

Our adventure began as soon as we entered the changing room. The first thing I noticed about the changing room is that there are NO CURTAINS. Not even on the showers. There isn't a separate changing stall either. So that means that I have to strip down in front of everyone and I have to look at everyone too. YUCK! I don't want to see these people's junk and I really don't want them looking at mine, but I got over it and I put on my blue and white fat man swimming trunks and a wife beater.

As soon as we made it down stairs we walk over to the two dipping pools (both are less than 4ft deep). The hot one is empty (surprise surprise) and the cold one has a 10 year old boy in it playing. We decide to get into the cold pool. The water isn't super cold, but it is nice. I see a pipe and go over to it thinking that this must be the freezing cold water is that Victoria mentioned. But I couldn't figure out where the water would come from and then I looked over and saw a shower with a pulley string and realized that is what she was talking about. (Thank god I wore my contacts, because I wouldn't have been playing with the pipe trying to figure out to make the cold water come out.)

We stayed in the cool water for a while. I attempted to swim in the sallow pool when the boy walked away. It was nice to to glide across the pool and feel the water all over my body. Mo had the brilliant idea of going to the wet sauna. We went in and again I was confused, because I had no clue what to do in a wet sauna. I have been in several saunas, but never a wet one. I had noticed while we were in the pool that a woman had filled a bucket with the freezing cold water and went into the wet sauna room with it, but she was already gone. Mo, I and another first time attendee were standing in there trying to figure what made this room wet and then we figured out that the buckets that were in the sauna room are supposed to be filled with the freezing cold water and pour the freezing cold water over your body. Once we figured that out. I was in love with the wet sauna room.

That was until Leo arrived. Leo is the masseuse/keeper of the heat. Leo, who I think was a flaming homosexual, came in and told us we weren't using the room properly and it wasn't hot enough. (At that moment the room was at least 105 degrees.) He informs us that we should be sitting on the top row of bleachers to feel the full effects of the heat, so me being the adventurous jackass that I am. I climbed up to the top. Leo processed to warm the room up by throwing a couple of spoonfuls of the now warm water into the oven (the oven is a beautiful brick oven. It reminded me an oven you would find in brick oven pizzeria.) Then he took a towel and swung it around the room and all of sudden the room starts to warm up a bit. Then all of a sudden it went from being a bit warmer to being unbearable. At that moment I understood importance of the freezing cold water.

Mo left me before all of this started and I was left alone in this hot room with two strange men (both of them are newbies too) and I thought I was going to die. The guys were nice and they realized that we needed more water and they filled the buckets with FREEZING water and I poured the water all over my body and then fell in love with the room even more. After torturing myself on the top bleachers for a few minutes I climbed down and decided to join my fellow newbie on the lower level. Big yucky mistake! The guy was super sweet and we chatted and shared a bucket of freezing water together. Seemed like a nice man; we shared pleasantries and I was learning about him. Then I looked down and I learned a little bit too much.

Dude was not wearing swimming trunks. He was wearing boxers. And his junk was hanging out of his boxers plus he kept wetting himself with the water and his boxers were transparent. During our chat, I learned that he had not planned to come to the Banya, so he didn't have trunks with him and the front desk didn't have a pair in his size to sell him. So he decided just to chill out in in boxers. At that moment, I wish I had my one piece bathing suit in my bag, because I would have given him my fat man trunks. (In his defense, I do not think he realized that his junk fell out or that his boxers were transparent.)

After sitting in the wet sauna I made a pit stop at the freezing cold shower station and drenched myself. For some crazy reason, I decided to check out the dry sauna. Dear god, please tell me why anyone would willing walk into a room where the temperature is over 130 degrees. When I opened the door to dry sauna I was welcomed by the pleasant smell of eucalyptus. Between the scent and the dry heat I was captivated. I figured that Mo should experience this and I waved like a crazy woman trying to get her attention, but she had fallen asleep in a plastic chair. So I walked back in to the dry sauna and enjoyed the minty fresh room for at least 10 minutes.

By the time I walked over to Mo she was awake. We both agreed it was time for lunch, so I went to Victoria and ordered a Greek salad, potato pierogies and chicken pierogies. When the food came out, I couldn't believe the portions. Omg! There was so much food in front of us! I couldn't believe how good everything was. The pierogies were fresh. Nothing like the Mrs. G pierogies you get out of the freezer section. The bread...omg the bread was like fachcha bread, but better! And we had this "juice"...omg. Victoria is an amazing cook! During lunch we talked about how we had to come back to the Banya.

Leo, Mr. Junk out of his boxers and his very sexy lady friend came to visit us in the restaurant. They told us about their massages. Then Leo told us about a service that he offers at the Banya. To sum it out he beats the client with oak leaves to remove toxins from their body. It sounded crazy and amazing. All I could think about was how was I was going to round up the cash to get it done, because I want a flaming Russian man to beat me with oak leaves.

Now the point I dreaded the most. It was time to go upstairs to shower and get dressed in the curtain less changing room. After the relaxing day I didn't care and showed my body to the world.

After hanging out at the Banya we headed into the city, because Mo had to run some errands and she wanted to go the Buttas spot. I was more than happy to go the Butta spot, because the food and drinks are yummy. I had a lobster tail, shrimp, shrimp fried rice and small buttas. Then we headed home. It was a good day! Came home watched a little TV and started working on this post. I slept like a baby for the whole night which is a rare thing. Maybe it was the sauna, all of the food or the buttas. (For all you who don't know. A buttas is a mix drink. Don't ask me what's in it.)

My final recommendation is - go the Coney Island Banya and go often! It is worth the $25. The food is amazing. The saunas are relaxing and the staff is really great.

Christmas To Do List

Suzy and Cheryl came over yesterday to help me pack up my apartment and dehoard. I am moving out of this shit hole apartment at the end of the month.

It was a fun day (until Ms. Edwards tried to make me throw out my scrap note paper). When the 3 of us get together we have a ton of laughs and we always have a bunch of knitting/yarn chats.

During the course of the dehoarding we went through my crap yarn bag and I actually threw out yarn. I don't think I have ever thrown out yarn. The crap yarn bag is filled with random remnants. I think I have remnants from EVERY project that I ever made. When I say EVERY project I mean EVERY project.

Luckily they didn't make me throw out anything from the real stash. :)

Since I am putting most of my stuff in storage, it doesn't make sense for me to take all of my yarn with me, so I pulled out enough yarn to create a bunch of projects.

Here is my wip/Christmas to do list. Let's see if I get all of this done.

WIPS:
Baby Legall's - Baby Surprise Jacket
Mr. Crawford's - Meandering Scarf

TO DOS/Yarn I am taking with me:
5 Balls of Red Cashmere - Scarf for Jan or Debra
4 Balls of Red Baby Alpaca - Scarf for Jan or Debra
5 Balls of Red Inca Alpaca - Scarf for Jan or Debra
4 Balls of Green Alpaca Yarn - Something for Allison
5 Balls of Bulky Hot Pink Yarn - Bulky Baby Surprise Jacket for Kaia or "Baby"
1 Ball of Pink & White Cotton - ?
2 Balls of Sugar & Cream - Wash Cloths for Baby Legall
2 Balls of Multi-Colored Paton Merino Wool - Hat for Mr. Crawford
4 Balls of Patons Kroy Sock Yarn - Socks for Dr. Freeman

Work Not in Progress, but Here's Some Cool Urban Art

Between the heat and the job hunting. I haven't been knitting a lot. But here are some very small updates.

I am happy to report that Olivia's (Baby Legall) jacket has been put back on the needles and is no longer a pile of yarn on my futon. It is starting to form its shape, but nothing to brag about or post a photo of yet.

Mr. Crawford's scarf is just too hot too deal with now. At least I know he will be warm this winter.

Since I don't have any progress photos to show of my knitting. I posted a sideshow of the amazing graffiti I saw at 5pointz, a graffiti museum in Queens, NY.

Frogging, Dancing, Riding and a Little Knitting in Between

This weekend wasn't what I planned, but it was nice just the same.

Friday was a bust. Lynn came over to help me figure out to how to use my sewing machine and the machine didn't work. I am not sure why, because I haven't "used" the thing in months. If I touched it 10 times, that would be a lot.

I have this dream of learning how to use a sewing machine, but for some reason the dream isn't becoming a reality. The first person who was teaching me how to sew is no longer giving private lessons and now the machine is broken. I am not sure if it is worth getting it fixed, because it is a mini machine and might cost more to get it fixed than it is worth.

Friday night I just chillaxed in the house, because my evening plans didn't work out, so I worked on the BSJ and watched the 20/20 Michael Jackson special. Bad combination! I was paying more attention to the TV, than my knitting and had to frog it. UGH! UGH! I had 9 rows done. Something told me to put a lifeline in before I started row 1o, but of course I didn't listen to myself. So now Baby Legall's BSJ is just a bunch of pretty pink and
purple yarn on my futon. :(

Saturday was a better day. Ran some errands. Rode the B23 bus (for the last time) and then hopped on the B67. I got some great public transportation knitting in . Then later that night I went to a Michael Jackson tribute party and danced with Joe and Cheddie. I am not sure if anyone would call what I do dancing, but I jiggled my big butt, moved my feet in two general directions, clapped my hands, fist pumped and sang. Awesome party! Keita and DJ Spinna really know how to throw a party.

If you are a MJ fan. Click here for a little treat. I made this mix a couple of days after his death. Hope you enjoy it.

Today is super hot and my foot is hurting from all of the "dancing", so today definitely didn't go as planned. I was going to go out to either to dance to some more MJ tunes or go to gay pride, but I thought I was going to melt if I did either of those things. So I joined Amanda at the laundromat.

Besides the fact that my bedroom smelled like a dirty laundry basket, please tell me why I decided to go to the laundromat on the hottest day ever? Unfortunately, I was not able to get some laundromat knitting in. Laundromats are another urban knitter venue. I am sure there will be posts on laundromat knitting soon.

Knitting Venue Closed

I wouldn't be much of an Urban Knitter if I never talked about my journeys on public transportation. As a New Yorker, I depend on the MTA for 99% of my transportation needs.

Most Urban Knitters do a great deal of knitting on public transportation. Public transportation is a great place to work on small knitting/crochet projects. I always feel so productive when I am able to work on a project on the train or bus. It is so much better to get a couple of rows done then just sit there and let the time slip away. There are a few draw backs to knitting on the train, but the productivity out weighs the draw backs in my book.

I hate the MTA! I hate them with a passion. They keep charging us more and more money and giving us less. The only thing we get more of is attitude and horrible service.

Tomorrow is going to be a hard day for New Yorkers. The massive service cuts that have been in the news for months are going into effect tomorrow. The Q train and the B23 bus (two of my favorite modes of transportation) are going to be greatly effected by the budget cuts.

The Q train is now going to Queens. UGH! Not that I have a problem with Queens. I just have a problem with my train going there. The thing I love most about the Q train is the first/the last stop is in the city. I knew if I went to 57th Street and 7th I would get a seat. Now that the Q train is going to Queens I will not be guaranteed that luxury.

I like to refer to the Q train as the crafty train, because there are so many knitters and crocheters on the train. I never seen a train line with so many crafters on it. I love looking around the subway seeing all of the people working on their projects. I love talking to the other crafters about their projects. I wonder if there are going to be less knitters/crocheters on the Q train, because there will be less seats available. I have a feeling I am going to knit less on the Q train. Unfortunately, I have not picked up the skill of knitting while standing up on a moving train. Maybe I should add that to my 2010 challenge, so I don't loose those extra minutes of knitting.

The B23 (my neighborhood bus) is being discontinued. I understand why this cut has been made, because the bus doesn't really go anywhere. It goes up and down Cortelyou Road and 16th Avenue and it doesn't have a lot of passengers, but I really like the B23. It is a great help to me when I go grocery/liquor shopping, it's raining, late at night, too hot or too cold.

During my hiatus from life I have been using the B23 a lot and I started taking longer trips on it. I have discovered how amazing this bus is. During my longer bus trips I have knitted on it. The B23 is the ideal bus to knit on, because there are not a lot of people on it, so I can spread out, and it is always air conditioned.

Goodbye B23. I am going to miss you!

I have some errands to run today, so I think I am going hop on it today and knit a little.

Why does the MTA have to screw up the good things?

R.I.P Michael Jackson

Just wanted to take a moment to send a little love to Michael Joseph Jackson.

MJ I love you! I can't believe a year has passed since you left this earth. Even though you are no longer here, your music will live on forever.

Thank you for the songs and the hours of dancing.

There will never be another talent like you!

My Meetup Day

Today, I spent most of my day knitting with groups that I found on Meetup.com. Meetup.com is a great site to find people who are interested in the same activities as you.

During my hiatus from the real world. I have attended a lot of meetup events. I love going to these events, because I meet nice people and get to see really amazing knit and crochet pieces. People are doing things that I can only dream of creating. A couple of weeks ago, I had a 15 minute conversation with a guy about how he is creating knitwear for knight/medieval costumes. (Yes medieval costumes. Crazy I know, but cool at the same time.)

Every time I leave an event I tell myself that I need to step up my knitting game. I really need to get my 2010 Knitting Challenge in full gear. No more simple projects. I need to bust out the cables and the color knitting. I need to start making sweaters. Better yet why don't I make a sweater that incorporates color knitting and cables. (insert laugh track here)

Tony, the organizer of the Knit PH Group, needed a volunteer to facilitate today's afternoon session. (Today's session was the first afternoon event this group ever held.) Since I was available I volunteered.

The meetup was held at the Lefferts Historic House in Prospect Park. I have walked passed this place a million times, but I have never been inside. This was an interesting place to hold a knitting meetup. The venue is a house museum displaying artifacts from the Lefferts family that lived there from 1785 - 1915. (While we were there an intern was setting up a textile installation. So we fit in perfectly.) The original house was on the corner of Flatbush Avenue and Maple Street. What I am trying to figure out is if the house was where 10 Maple Street is or where 11 Maple Street (my first apartment in Brooklyn).

Unfortunately the afternoon session was not very popular. It was just me and one other person, but I had a great time. Abbey was super sweet. She brought her 13 year old son. He was very nice too. Abbey and I spent the afternoon sitting under the covered porch knitting, chatting with each other and talking to museum visitors and staff who were curious about our projects. Her son spent the afternoon playing the piano in the park. (This summer the Parks Department has placed 60 pianos in different areas of the city. You can read more about this program here.)

I worked on Mr. Crawford's Scarf for a little while, but had to stop, because the wool was getting too hot and itchy, so I worked on Baby Legall's Jacket. Abbey worked on this.

After I left the Lefferts Historic House I hopped on the B41 bus and headed over to Park Slope to go to Hanco's Bubble Tea and Vietnamese Sandwich Shop to cool off, grab a bite to eat and send out my resume before the Park Slope Knitting Circle began.

I found the Park Slope Knitting Circle by accident. I had nothing to do one Saturday afternoon and took a walk down Smith Street and decided to visit La Casita to see what all of the raving was about. (I will tell you more about La Casita in another post, because I love this little shop and it deserves its own post.) When I walked into La Casita I saw a group of women sitting at the project table knitting. The leader invited me to sit and knit with them. After exploring the little store and meeting the owners I sat down and fell in love with the ladies of the group.

The group is run by this Russian spit fire named Olga. I love Olga, because she says what she means and means what she says. Every time I see Olga I am amazed by her knitting projects. She is so talented. She made her nephew a beautiful blue sweater. The amazing thing about this sweater is that she made it without a pattern. I could only dream of making my own sweater pattern. I also met Jackie. Jackie is so sweet. She is a bold new knitter. She is taking on knitting projects that I didn't do until I was knitting for at least a year. After meeting them that day, I knew it was a group that I wanted to be apart of.

Today's meetup was nice. There was a ton of people there. I didn't know any of them expect Olga. (Abbey joined us after eating dinner with her family.)

As usual I had great conversations and I was amazed by all of the things that people were working on. I did have a proud moment when some of the girls said that they couldn't figure out to how to make the Baby Surprise Jacket. I think I would have been happier if I was actually working on my Baby Surprise Jacket. Since it was cool in Hanco's I worked on Mr. Crawford's scarf.

The best part about going to a meetup held at Hanco's is the food. OMG the sandwiches are amazing! Today I had a grilled chicken sandwich, 2 summer rolls and a decaf passion fruit bubble tea. The flavors in the grilled chicken sandwich are amazing! Everyone who eats there gets addicted. It is like crack. I really need to try other Vietnamese sandwich places to see if this place is really good or if I can find a better place.

Dear Mr. Kool - Aid Man,

Dear Mr. Kool-Aid Man,

I think I am in love with another. As much as I love your smiling round belly. I think it is time that I try another coloring method to dye my yarn with.

Mr. Kool-Aid Man, you and I have spent a couple of wonderful days together. I have enjoyed hunting you down, but my heart has been yearning for someone else. His name is Wilton. I discovered Wilton when I was researching how to use you. Wilton intrigued me, because the yarns that I saw online that he mixed with were so vibrant and rich. I wasn't sure where to find Wilton at first. But I knew where to find you, so I tried you first. (Please do not think I settled with you. Because I didn't.)

So I picked you up, took you home and tried you out. I liked you. You gave me 6 wonderful little balls of joy, but I wanted more! I wanted something deeper and richer. Something that would make a statement. I think I we could have that together, but it would take some work.

Maybe I am lazy and didn't want to work that hard. So I tried Wilton and he gave me what I was looking for without all of the work. Sorry Mr. Kool-Aid Man. I still like you and I hope we can still be friends.

In a perfect world, I hope that I can figure out how to use you and Wilton together. I know it is possible, because I have seen photos of this. I hope you understand. I hope you are not too upset. I am sure that I am not the only one who has left you behind for Wilton.

Stay strong Mr. Kool-Aid Man. We will be together soon! I still have a ton of packets that I still need to use.

Love,
Petrina

***
Blog Post - Hello Wilton's

Cheryl came over last week, because she wanted to try hand dyeing too. Figured it would be a good day to try the Wilton's Icing Coloring that I purchased a few weeks ago since I already made several balls using Kool-Aid.

Cheryl used Kool-Aid and made a hank of variegated pink yarn. Can't wait to see it.

I pulled out another roll of Lion Brand's Fisherman's Wool with brown specs and my box of 8 flavors of Wilton's and went to work. I used Wilton's Christmas Red, Lemon Yellow, Leaf Green and Sky Blue and made this awesome yarn. Not sure what I should name it. I used the dip method to make this yarn.





Because I was sharing the table with Cheryl I didn't have a enough room to spread out. Big mistake! You need a lot of room for this, because there was coloring on the table and on my hands when the yarn hit the coloring on the table it turned the yarn a brown/muddy color. At first, I was upset when I saw the skein after it dried. Now that the yarn has been balled, I love the brown hints in it.The brown didn't happen every where the colors blended together, because the places where the blue and the green touched made this peacock green/blue color. Very gorgeous!

I also love that fact that even though my hands were covered they weren't stained for days. After 2 or 3 washes my hands were clean.

I know I just wrote a Dear John letter to Mr. Kool-Aid about my new love. I just wanted to let you know that our love is not perfect. No love is. Our love is messy. For some reason that I can not explain. I feel as if the Wilton is messier than the Kool-Aid. The only reason I can think of is that Wilton's is a gel and the Kool-Aid is a powder.

I also didn't have the muddy coloring with the Kool-Aid. Even though the muddy color worked this time, it may not work the next the time, so I have to be really careful when using Wilton's.

Pros of Wilton's Dye:
Vibrant Colors
Washes off the skin easily - color was off my hands after a couple of washes unlike Kool-Aid
Mixes will certain colors
Cover the yarn completely - no white is showing

Cons of Wilton's Dye:
Gets muddy
Very drippy

Lessons learned:
Don't let too many colors touch
Let two colors touch
Must use work alone
Have a ton of gloves


I have one final ball to dye and then I am done dyeing until I knit at least 3 more projects to get rid of my stash. This dye job may be a little different than the others, because the final ball is superwash merino wool (of course made by Lion Brand. I feel like all I have been using lately is Lion Brand yarn). I think I am going to dye this last ball this week. I am curious to see how it is comes out, because of the chemical that is on the yarn that makes it washable may have an amazing or yucky reaction with the dye.

2010 Challenge

I have been knitting for about 6 years. During this time I have made a lot of great things, but they have all been really simple or just things that I made up. So I decided that this year I would challenge myself. Trying things that I never done before or were afraid to do.

I am enjoying these challenges!

For years, I was terrified of making socks, so I made the first challenge socks. I gave to my friend Adrian.
The second challenge was Elizabeth Zimmerman's Baby Surprise Jacket. This was the first sweater that I ever made. It was easier than I thought.


Third challenge was hand dying.


The fourth challenge was an adult sized crochet blanket that I made for Amanda's 31st birthday. This was a challenge is because I am not a crocheter and I have never made a blanket for an adult. The blanket was just simple double crochets, but it was something I never could do correctly no matter how hard I tried. Even though the design was easy the blanket was hard work between the size and trying to make it right. It is not perfect (the edges are really crazy), but it is made by hand and with love. I hope she enjoys it.


Upcoming challenges:
Baby Surprise Jacket with stripes
Toe up socks
Cables
2 socks at one time
Color Knitting or Double Knitting

Fun Time with Kool Aid - Part Two

The other day my friend Suzy came over and we hand dyed yarn together with Kool-Aid. Since my original posting on dyeing yarn with Kool-Aid I have been on the hunt to find Kool-Aid packets. I am surprised how hard it is to find Kool-Aid packets that are not cherry, tropical punch, orange, grape and lemonade. Every time I went out I was compelled to go in every corner store and ask if they had Kool-Aid packets. My hunting was worth the time, because I was able to find amazing flavors. I was also able to find people on Ravelry who were willing to help the cause.

I was able to find the following flavors:
berry blue
ice blue raspberry lemonade
invisible
lemon-lime
mango
orange
tangerine
pink lemonade
grape
blastin’ berry cherry
cherry
jamaica
man-o-mango berry
slamin' strawberry kiwi
strawberry
tropical punch
watermelon cherry
lemonade
pineapple
black cherry
kickin' kiwi lime

This time around I have more than just colors that are in the red family. I have blues, greens, yellows and oranges (of course I have tons of reds).

The last time I tried dyeing I used my crock pot and it gave the yarn a tie-dye effect.
This time I tried the dipping effect. That is when you dip the yarn in the dye. Below you will find a photo of the method I used when I was creating my Crayon Love yarn.

I loved and hated this method. I loved the way the yarn came out, but it is reallllllllly messy. We had Kool-Aid everywhere. On the floor, all over the table. Our hands and feet were stained. The scary thing was our hands were stained for days. The photo below is of my hand hours after we finished the process. Again I ask, why do people drink this stuff and what do their insides look like?

What I loved about the this method is the way the yarn looks. The colors are deeper and richer than the crock pot method, because you are putting the yarn directly in touch with coloring.

This time I used 1 skein of Lion Brand's Fisherman Yarn and 2 skeins of Lion Brand's Pure Wool.

I had to give the Fisherman's yarn a fair shot this time since I treated it so poorly the first time. The last time I used the plain cream yarn. This time I used the cream yarn with the brown specs, because I wanted to see how the brown specs would look with the dye.

I choose the Pure Wool because it was already hanked and super cheap ($4 per hank).

Buying yarn that is already hanked is a great idea, because it saves a lot of time. The only reason why I am a bigger fan of the large Fisherman's skein is because you get so much yarn verses the smaller hanks of yarn. If I could find a hank that was as large as the fisherman's skein, then I would buy that instead.

After creating the messy blob of a hank the last time I was determined to make a real hank this time. Suzy and I set up shop on my floor and figured out the best way to create the hank was by wrapping the yarn around the legs of the card table. It worked out really well. We created a beautiful hank, but it took a good 45 minutes to get that big skein into a nice hank, but I think it was worth it.

I definitely think this was a better experience then my first time, because I took the mistakes I made the last time and made sure I didn't repeat them again. :)

Lessons learned from this batch of dying:
Get a good pair of plastic gloves - kool-aid stains!
The card table is good for creating a hank
Use a table that you do not care about
Wrap the table in plastic wrap
Dipping is a good method for bright colors

Photos of the dyed yarn:
I named this one Hippy Tones

This was made in the crock pot - I used cherry, lemon-lime and blue raspberry lemonade kool-aid. This is Lion Brand's Pure Wool.

I named this yarn Hello Cherries!

I used the dipping method. It is hard to tell in this photo, but the yarn is different shades of red. I used the following Kool-Aid flavors watermelon cherry, jamaica, black cherry and blasting berry cherry. This was made with the Lion Brand's Pure Wool.

I named this yarn Crayon Love

This is the hank that Suzy and I created after it is has been dyed.




This was made with the Berry Blue, Ice Blue Raspberry Lemonade, Black Cherry, Pineapple, Grape and Lemon-Lime Kool-Aid. I used Lion Brand's Fisherman's wool with brown specs.

All of the balls were balled at the Lion Brand Yarn Studio in New York City.

Good Times with Kool Aid Follow Up

In my first posting, I posted a photo an orange blob of Lion Brand's Fisherman's yarn that I hand dyed hanging in my bathroom. My dear friend Suzy turned that blob into 3 balls. I can't wait to see them and knit them up.

Good Times with Kool-Aid (Part 1)

A couple of weeks ago, I organized a subway meetup with the Subway Knitters Group on Ravelry. At this meetup, I met a young woman who told me she dyes yarn with Kool-Aid. I thought it sounded like a great idea. I have always been fascinated with the concept of dyeing yarn, but wasn't sure how to do it. Once I realized it was as easy using Kool-Aid. I got this crazy idea that I wanted to try my hand at dyeing.

I know dyeing items with Kool-Aid is not a new concept. People have doing it for decades. I remember using it to dye my friend's hair with it in high school. The great thing about using Kool-Aide is that it is not toxic. I live in a small apartment and I can become overwhelmed by the fumes. Plus I didn't want to use something that wouldn't stain my apartment. The great thing about using Kool-Aid is my apartment smells fruity and I can easily clean up the stains with bleach or Method spray. What I think is scary about Kool-Aid is people drink this stuff. If this stuff can dye my yarn what do people's inside look like who drink it all of the time.

Before I started the process I spent an hour or 2 online looking for directions on how to dye yarn with Kool-Aid. Surprisingly there is a lot of information out there on the subject. There are several different ways to do this. All of the different methods are simple and use basic households items such as Kool-Aid, hot water, vinegar, turkey baster, large pot, microwave, crock pot, towels and hangers.

Most of the directions that I found describes the microwave method. I do not own a microwave, so I had to do a little bit more digging. I found this great video about crock pot dyeing on You Tube and this post on knitty.com about what colors each Kool-Aid flavor produces and I was on my way.

I bought some Lion Brand Fisherman's yarn and some Stitch Nation Full O Sheep from Michael's in New York City. Since both of the yarns are not hanks, I had to turn them into hanks. So I put my computer on my floor and preceded to wrap the yarn around the monitor of computer. I am glad I bought two different sets of yarn, because I made a complete mess of the Fisherman's yarn.

I learned that if I am going to use a large skein of yarn like the Fisherman's yarn I am going to have to do a couple of things differently.

1 Don't make such a big hank
2 If I make a big hank, then I will get a helper and make sure to tie it up better

Then I went to my local corner store and found unsweetened packets of tropical punch, cherry, orange and grape Kool-Aid. The store didn't have a great selection, but it was perfect for what I had in mind. I wanted to create a tie dye reddish yarn.

When I came back home I pulled out my crock pot, filled it with water and vinegar. Opened the packets to examined the colors. I feel in love with the tropical punch right away. The cherry one quickly became my second favorite.Since the Fisherman's hank was such a mess, I just mixed all of the colors together and threw the messy hank in a pot and "dyed it all one color". It turned out a mess.

Here is a photo of my shame

In this photo it is still drying, so I don't know what the final color is going to look like. Since I did such a shitty job dyeing this I am going use to make this felted laptop cover, because I want to see how well it felts up since they calm it is great for felting, I am going to buy another skein of the Fisherman's yarn to try dyeing it again. I think I want to try blues, but blue Kool-Aid is hard to find in Brooklyn.

The Stitch Nation Yarn came out really great. Because it was smaller and I took my time putting in the colors. I wanted a tropical tie dye look and that is what I got. I used tropical punch, cherry and orange Kool-Aid.

Here are photos of my pride:
I thought this was a really fun process and look forward to creating more hand dyed yarns.