Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving*!! Hope everyone had a wonderful day with friends and family.  This year was the first Thanksgiving without my mom, so it was super sad. And it was my first Thanksgiving in the US since the early/mid 90's. Ana, Aaron and I went over to Penny's house where we were 3 of 18 people.  It turned out wonderful with lots of happy laughing moments.

I found out early in the week that the night before Thanksgiving is the busiest night of the year at bars and clubs. It didn't say why, so I just thought that because everyone was home, seeing family, that they needed alcohol to deal.  But apparently it is because people are in their hometowns and want to catch up with friends.... I like my theory much better. It makes sense, I thought about drinking yesterday.

This year I am thankful for my parents, my brothers, my Picasso and Mickey, and my family in general.  I am also thankful for the ability to go to grad school and get an advanced degree when there are places in this world where girls aren't even taught to read.




*I like to call this day Happy Dead Bird Day, Happy Animal Carcass Day and others of such nature.

Knitpicks wishlist

Because Christmas is just around the corner.
http://www.knitpicks.com/cfCart/viewWishlist.cfm?wishlistid=9476B694-BD9B-3829-B713314F273A52C5&media=WLBL

Wilton's Dye

My next try at dying was with Wilton's icing gel coloring. I started with a wool/alpaca blend, water, vinegar, and dye. And got this. 

Not nearly dark enough again, but it was my first try with Wilton's and didn't want to go over board. 

Dyeing Roving with Kool-Aid

Yes, I dyed wool roving with different colors of Kool-Aid. I used Blue Raspberry and Grape the first time, and decided that the color wasn't anywhere near dark enough. So I re-dyed parts of the roving Ice Blue, more grape, and Cherry.

This is what I started with. 

My different Kool-Aid concentrations. 

First color mixes put on the roving. 

After about 40 minutes in the oven and then left to cool overnight.  Even though this is still partially wet you can see how light it is.  

This is after re-dying it.  This doesn't show all the dark purple parts, but shows that it is somewhat darker.