Wet dog & Pickled eggs in the microwave??

Dyeing some yarn has been at the top of my list for a loooong time (with some spinning) & i have the acid dyes... but i don't have a reserved crock pot or dish.. so i haven't gotten around to it. keep thinking about that kool-aid group... & i know all about the easter egg dye, food dyes, etc. well, this time i said "don't dump that egg dye, cause i WILL do it this year"! so i saved it for my birthday project. (earth day)

i have some Knit Picks Bare sock.. but that's a lot of yardage for the idea playing in my head & then a Rav search on my stash reminded me of some worsted wool in white, only 51 grams. my idea was a rainbow with the colors, obviously because they are all there made up & ready, but because my kid has been obsessed with rainbows for a time now. which i didn't always pay much attention to before, but now with his help i see how happy they are.. & so i now collect rainbow yarn. my thought is to make him a hat, perhaps Turn a Square by Jared Flood, but not sure how much to do of each color to make a rainbow repeat in the hat.. not ending up with only red through yellow or something.. ?? well, in the end of thinking of mini skeins & ends & finally just thought to try it by dyeing each 5 grams & if it doesn't work then cut it or find a new project.

there are probably easier ways to do it.. like sock blank-style, but until i find an affordable knitting machine... this was the quickest. i wound mini hanks & weighed them on my scale & tied each to keep it separate. soak in vinegar-water 1 hour.

dunked each section in small cups filled with rainbow colors until i knew it had time to soak. took the yarn hanklettes out & put on plastic wrap, dunked the next repeat (i didn't have enough yarn for the last purple). & put those in the same color piles. added a smidgen of extra dye over the piles, wrapped up & microwaved for 4 minutes. let stand a few, i meant 5 min, but i think i got distracted & it was more like 10? microwaved another 4, checked the dye water puddle underneath… clear!!! my only.. ugh!.. was when moving the plastic wrapped yarn back into the dish... the green got into the yellow a little. next time i'll have the plastic wrap in the dish, no moving.

i did this late & it was steaming hot.. so i left it to cool. came back in the am & rinsed it, squeezed the water out, hanked it & left to dry in the bathroom. AWESOME easy! ;) during the microwave process is when my spouse came home & pondered me using the microwave first... cause i don't microwave food.. i know, i'm one of those, so it holds the snacks out of sight from the vultures. then he asked.. what is that smell? pickled eggs?.. wet dog? why yes. late night snack of steamed wet dog & pickled eggs.. ...

i used PAAS dye.. there is both Red 3 & 40 in it.. not sure which in which colors so a i know the red may fade. i hope not.. but super great project to try out, or with kids.

yeah, so i'm hooked... need more!!

Spring WIP Challenge!

the stash down group is doing a WIP challenge from 01 April to 31 May.. & i love starting new things, so i really have to join this one. although i'm up for any challenge lately. considering there is a holiday in there plus some nice weather i know i also have to be realistic about how many i could really finish..... so, i decided on my Flyaway Cardi, Black Olga Shawl & Celestial Cowl. all of these i had marked at around 60% finished. this would give me 2 weeks each to work on them & extra 2 weeks for non-knitting, nice weather days.

i already worked on my flyaway cardi & my celestial cowl before the pics, in fact, i actually finished my cowl. it went so much faster than i thought it would. i think its because, except the rare occasion, i have only let myself work on these projects. if it wasn't for the challenge, i would never have this kind of will-power. new projects are calling to mee......

at least 2 can be considered spring/summer projects. the cowl will just be a jump ahead for this winter, which is good because i always wait until i'm freezing before i start. the cowl is my 1st & i'm not too sure about it, maybe it was just this pattern/yarn combo since it doesn't seem to have the greatest stitch definition. i think they would be good for kids though! i'm so excited to have 1/3 done! not to mention, this will also get me ahead on my 12 in 2014 stash project as well. i tell myself start nothing new until these 3 are done.

Olga Shawl in black. don't look close, it has been in a plastic bag yet is still covered in lint & fuzz.. :( maybe black isn't so good....

celestial cowl all done already!! 

my flyaway cardi is in lace-weight. i have already worked on some of this by attaching the sleeves. only yoke to go. went much faster than i thought for this part. good news!!