Don't Drink the Kool-Aid

When I was growing up, my siblings and I weren't allowed to drink soda - soda was for grown ups.  We drank water or milk.  And occasionally kool-aid.  

KOOL-AID!       I LOVE KOOL-AID!  

Delicious flavors! 

Awesomely creative names! 

Beautifully vivid colors! 

Copious amounts of sugar! 

What's NOT to love?!?

Now that I'm a grown up, Mountain Dew is my drink of choice!  Just hook me up to an IV of Mountain Dew and let it drip all day long! 

Although I do still love kool-aid. 

And there's another reason to love kool-aid... you can use kool-aid to dye fabrics and yarns.  Who knew?

Well, I guess most parents, including my parents, already knew that kool-aid stains.  That's why we weren't allowed to drink our kool-aid in the carpeted living room, sitting on the couch.        hmmmmmm........go figure!

Well, Sarah knitted some scarves using wool yarn with the sole purpose of experimenting with kool-aid dying.  

We seem to have misplaced the before photo......  Just imagine off-white, boring-but-beautifully-knitted scarves.    :-)

                 Aren"t they pretty??

We checked out several websites about kool-aid dying.  We evaluated all the info and then did our own thing.  (good thing we did that research, huh?)

We found there are two choices to "set the color" - using heat or using a mordant (an acid to secure the color).  We thought we would go ahead and use heat AND use vinegar as our acid.   Better safe than sorry. 

I like to think I am mostly on top of things.  I have my act together.  

My delusion was completely shattered when we got the vinegar from the pantry...

Yes, the date on the vinegar bottle is August 6, 1999.  I am going with that as the date it was bottled and NOT the expiration date.  Although, with that as the bottle date, I'm pretty sure the expiration date is long gone! 

But, really, does vinegar go bad?  I'm not sure if it smells bad.  It smells very vinegar-y.   Doesn't vinegar always smell bad?

We decided since we weren't going to drink the kool-aid, it would be fine to use.

Anyway, who really uses vinegar?  The only reasons I can think of to use vinegar is to make pickles (we just buy them) or to dye Easter eggs (we don't eat hard boiled eggs so we don't dye eggs - we prefer the plastic eggs filled with candy).  

So, yeah, I guess I am really NOT on top of things.  

     The vinegar is not from THIS decade.

      It's not even from LAST decade.

     or even THIS MILLENNIUM! 

      It's from the 1990s.

      Really? ... Well, we are using it anyway.  

So, Sarah chose from the kool-aid flavors/colors that we had on hand.  

 In the spirit of full disclosure, I have to admit that some of the kool-aid packets from my pantry had the collectible kool-aid points on them.  Remember those?  Again, I am so NOT of top of things!  What year did they stop putting the points on those packets anyway? ...      Please don't judge me!   

Having disclosed that information about me and my household there is no need to worry if you've eaten at my house or plan to in the future.........don't worry.  The items that we consume regularly, are used in a timely manner (obviously not vinegar or kool-aid though). I save all the expired food items for the household residents.  :-) 

So...  Back to the kool-aid dying -

We decided to use a jar for each scarf / color.  We put in the kool-aid powder (no sugar necessary,  after all, we aren't going to drink it), vinegar, and enough water to completely cover the scarf. 

 

We started out measuring the vinegar / kool-aid / water ratio very carefully.  After all, this was an experiment - you know, like science.  We quickly moved on to the "Rachael Ray" way to measure (which is really not measuring at all - a splash of this - a splash of that).  

Kool-Aid powder  -  NO sugar!

Vinegar

Measured carefully!

Mix together....

Will the scarf fit into the jar?

It fits!!

we added water to cover the scarf. 

Blue  and  Orange

Red 

Sarah!  Don't Drink the Kool-Aid!

What do you mean? Don't Drink the Kool-Aid??  What?  Is that a movie quote??

 We then placed the jars into a pan of water on the stove.

We had to use a second pan. 

 We heated the water until the liquid in each jar was clear.  It was like magic!  The scarves absorbed the color and the remaining liquid was clear.  The websites we researched said this would happen, but I didn't believe it until I actually saw it with my own eyes. 

We rinsed out the scarves and then hung them up to dry.  

Of course, we hung them in the bathroom.  Where else would you hang them??

How did Sarah get in the picture?

And this is what they look like after the kool-aid!  

We had fun playing with the Kool-aid! 

Patience is a Virtue ... Just Not One of Mine

Viki and her scarf

So my latest knitting project was a scarf for my friend Viki.  I was experimenting with a new pattern for me - although I have been knitting and crocheting for years now, I just joined Ravelry this month. It is a fantastic site.  I used the pattern for the Haruni scarf by Emily Ross.

I offered to make Viki a scarf after she admired my green scarf, and ordered the yarn and then waited patiently (not at all) for the yarn to come in.

While I was waiting, some things I did:

Took pictures of my window clings standing on buildings:

Did some homework:

 Decorated my small laptop:

 Did some more homework:

Looked up pictures of super cute foxes:

 Aren't they just adorable?

Anyway, the yarn got here eventually. And it was this gorgeous color:

So I started knitting:

In the background you can see the crazy colors blanket, affectionately dubbed "my hot blanket" (because of its warmth), which my mom made for me when I was three or four. I used to sleep with it covering my entire body - including my head. Now if I cover my head, I am uncovered from my knees to my toes - and no one would describe me as tall. And yet it still accompanied me to college. And I still love it!

The finished scarf before blocking

Since I am a good 900 miles away from home, I have some real high tech supplies:

I blocked the scarf on a Tinkerbell towel using sewing pins, of which I did not have enough, so I used a few safety pins, too. ... It's not red neck, it's inventive...

 And of course the final product on my beautiful friend Viki:

 I had a lot of fun with this scarf. And I think it turned out really well. I might make one in this pattern for myself - goodness knows, one can never have too many scarves!

Sarah's Green Scarf

Stylish green scarf

My latest knitting creation, - my first creation for the new semester/new year - is this green knitted scarf.

I used the same pattern for this scarf as for the scarf I made Mom for Christmas (will be put up eventually, I'm sure). I have fallen in love with making scarves - lace scarves. Lace is just so fun to knit.

This scarf in particular was knit while watching many episodes of Farscape. I'm such a nerd. But this scarf will forever be associated with that amazing TV show.

Green Scarf on My Messy Desk

This picture lets you see the detail a little better, but I guess still not really. But be proud of me! This is my first lace knit project where the mistakes were not overwhelming! In fact, I couldn't find any mistakes when I looked back over it during blocking! That's something superly exciting.

And the day after blocking this of course it was around my neck all day. I felt so cool. :)

Now I don't have any new projects until this blog is up and running and I get the new yarn in for the scarf I am making for a friend. ... Really whichever comes first... I'm really hoping the yarn comes soon...