Under Attack

They multiply when you aren't looking.

Birthday Blanket

When I turned 7, my Gramma made me my very own quilt.  I still have it- it has a puppy in the very middle, with pinwheels all around it.  My son now sleeps under it.  :)

His 6th birthday is in June and I started working on his own Birthday Blanket last month.  I know it's early, but I want to make sure I get it done in time.  I'm not a quilter, but I can knit, so I am making him a patchwork knit blanket.  I'm pretty much just making rows of different colored squares in a simple garter stitch.

 I'm knitting on size 15 needles with Lion Brand Homespun yarn in any color I can find it in.  It's a very soft yarn that is (more importantly) machine washable and dryable!

The weather here has been extraordinary for January, so we were able to go for a walk on Monday down the hill to our neighbor, which is a giant cattle farm.  The owner is leasing it out to an outfit from Texas- apparently the drought has gotten bad enough that he chose to truck his hundreds of livestock to the green hills of East Tennessee.  We couldn't be happier with the change- the hired hands are nice enough to let us wander in and out of the barns and even introduced us to the orphaned calves, who ate right out of A's little hands, much to his delight. 

On the walk back home, we found two magnificent treasures:  a tiny bird's nest and a green glass Coke bottle.  The nest has been added to our collection, while the coke bottle is soaking to get the gunk out.

This Spring, I may invest in some beehives.  I've been interested in them for awhile and have made a new friend who keeps bees and is teaching a class about them this Spring, which is open to any who want to attend.  You can find out more at My Barefoot Farm.  It's towards the bottom of the blog entry, but she's going to cover all the bases of beekeeping.  I, for one, am really excited to attend!! 

We have a local beekeeping club here, called the Clinch Valley Beekeepers Association that I've seen at some of the local festivals.  They always bring some good honey and a displayable hive with them, which was a big hit with us.

That's all for now- I'll be attempting to write a little more frequently than I have been.  

Todays' quote: 

"The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in."   ~Morrie Schwartz~

Irish

Kool-Aid Scarves

I've been poking around, looking at crafty ideas at various blogs and websites.  I've stumbled across this idea at a number of sites and I finally tried it and am very happy with the results.  I have wanted to buy A some silk scarves to play with, but they are 8 or 9 dollars each.  Instead, I made a bunch for about $30!

Get some plain white silk scarves.  I recommend the 30x30 habotai scarves at Dharma Trading Company. 

Buy Kool-Aid.  I used 4 packs for each color as follows:
Fruit Punch= Red
Grape= Purple
Orange= Orange
Lemon Lime= Green  (I added some food coloring for a little extra Pop of color)
Lemonade= Yellow (Food color for extra Pop!)
Ice Blue Lemonade= Blue (Food color for Electric blue)
(Be warned- the Ice Blue Lemonade and Fruit Punch both have blue packets and look VERY similar)

You will also need some plain vinegar and some stainless steel pots or aluminum roasting pans or both.  The color washes right out of them.

In a big bowl or clean bucket, soak the silk scarves in some hot, hot water and vinegar.  Try 4 cups hot hot water and 1-2 cups of vinegar.  (It doesn't have to be exact.)

In the meantime, mix up your colors.  Two cups of hot hot water mixed in with 4 packs of Kool Aid (plus food color) did it for me.  Mix thoroughly.

Then squeeze out the scarves and toss them into the colors, making sure the whole scarf gets soaked with color.

Leave them in there for about 15 minutes, stirring them and flipping them around every once in a while.   (The color in the pan gets a little cloudy as it is absorbed into the scarf.)  You can also tie-dye them!

Then, rinse it out in cold water until it comes clear.  (I couldn’t get mine to come completely clear and I’m not terribly worried about it, but maybe you will have better luck.)  The best way to do it is to rinse out one of the pans and use your hand to agitate the scarf in the running water like a washing machine.

Here they are, ready to be hung up and dried.

When you unbunch them and hang them up to dry, you may have a marbled effect, which I think adds to the coolness of the scarf.  However, if you prefer to skip out on the marbled effect, then I recommend putting the Kool Aid dye into deep trays or pans where you can dye the scarf folded and flat.  I can't promise it will work though, as I haven't tried it.


Once you are all done, here is what you get for your efforts!

I have to say that the Purple is probably my favorite because it is such a deep color, but I also love the vibrancy of the yellow, green, red, and blue.  I was disappointed with the orange, which came out almost peach, but I imagine a little food color would help the next time.

Oh yes, there will be a next time.  You see, we are currently working on a tree-house and I think an extra large tye-dyed scarf would look pretty awesome up there.  Am I right? 

Irish