Oh, happy day!! (Image Heavy)

Well, friends, it's been a pretty danged good day. With it being Summer, I'm spending every day with my two wonderful kids. Don't get me wrong, sometimes I want to pull my hair out, but I don't want to trade this time for anything, which is why I'm struggling so hard to earn money through my Etsy and Avon sites.

Also, I met a friend of mine, April, for lunch today. She's 15 weeks pregnant and she looks great pregnant. I'm happy for her and it was really nice to see her again. The kids played in the play area after she left and I got to play some Sudoku, which is rare and niiiiiiicccce!

THEN! I got home and my oldest got the mail. Now, I'm expecting some yarn that I purchased from a seller on Etsy two weeks ago, so when he brought in a big evelope, I figured it was that, finally. Then, I saw that is wasn't from the area I know the seller is from, so I thought it must be some yarn I'm expecting from someone on Ravelry that I am test crocheting for; but nope!! I was so surprised to find it is a RAK from someone on Ravelry. She didn't give her Rav name, but her real name is Sue Forbes.

THANK YOU, SUE FORBES!!! You made my day! I've been stalking Cro-Tat tutorials recently and thinking of giving it a try, and in my mailbox arrives a beautiful pattern book just for Cro-Tat edgings! And, the yarn.... oh, the yarn! It's soft, it's cobwebby, it's light and delicate and just gorgeous. There are two kinds of purple, which is my Mom's favorite color, so I may have to scrap the original idea I had for her for the holidays and make something for her out of this. She would really love it, I think. :) Sue, you just made my whole week with your kindness. I'm always so pleasantly surprised when someone thinks of me. Here are a couple of pics to show you what Sue so generously sent to me:



Before we headed out for lunch with April today, I decided to dive into a little project I'd been contemplating: Kool-Aid dying. Brandi, a friend of mine who is also in my dance troupe, recently gifted me some yarn, and in that stash was an interesting skein of vintage yarn from Sears. Here is the original band:

It contained two ounces of 100% wool yarn in brown, according to the label. However, I found it to be more like light tan:

I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with it and the color was just so drab that I thought maybe I could dye it. I'd never dyed wool before, so I asked some folks over at CSRA Fiber Fanatics over on Ravelry for some advice. Donna, a friend I've made through Ravelry, advised I try Kool-Aid dying because it's fun and easy. I figured it couldn't hurt! So, I picked up some Kool-Aid last night (I hate drinking the stuff, so we don't keep it in the house even though we have a seven year old) and decided to go for it.

I looked up a tutorial and it seemed simple. I knew I wanted to do a varigated yarn, in green, purple, and orange, so I had to make little skeins which took a little time and patience and I knew later it would be hard to untangle, but I couldn't think of another way to do it. I'll have to get some advice for that when I do this again. Then, I added the Kool-Aid to separate bowls, added some tap-hot water and submerged the damp yarn so it was all covered. After a few go-rounds in the microwave, I had this:

Aren't those colors fantastic? They are so juicy, and the yarn retains the fruity smell for a little while, so it really is a treat. :) After the yarn cooled, I rinsed and lightly washed it, then it was into a towel to dry like any other wool:

There are some variations in the colors where light spots developed, but I really like how it came out. The colors look good together (in my opinion) and it was so fun and easy that I WILL be doing this again! I think next time I might try a gray yarn for a heathered effect. Here is the final product (the colors are a little more vibrant than this pic):The coolest part? You know the dye is done because the yarn literally pulls every bit of Kool-Aid out of the water. The water was as clear as crystal! It was so cool and the science geek in me was just fascinated with it. Kool-Aid dying wool may have to be a future science fair project for one of the boys! lol

Now, I just need to find some crochet thread I can do this with! :)

BB!

~Jeannie