Dyeing wool with Kool-Aid

I have been a bit under the weather the last few days, but that did not stop me from dyeing some wool yarn with Kool-Aid.  It is fast and easy and does not require a lot of babysitting.

Knitty.com has a fantastic post about the basics of Kool-Aid dyeing here.

I did mine three ways.

First, I wanted a variegated yarn but with long runs between color changes. I made piles of yarn that were about 10 to 15 ft of yarn in each, then combined different piles together to make a total of four piles as I was going to have four colors.  I did not cut the skein to do this.  My yarn is Cascade 220, which I had gotten at a 50% off sale. I was hoping for white, but they did not have stock so the yarn is the color of spaghetti (Color 8412).  My four Kool-Aid colors are lemonade, orange, cherry and dark cherry. I soaked the yarn piles in water in four bowls, then squeezed out the water and emptied the bowls. I mixed a color in each bowl and filled about 3/4 of the way with water. I put the yarn back in and nuked them in the microwave for two minutes. I let them rest for a while and then nuked another 2 minutes. 

 I let the bowls cool down in the microwave as they are super hot. Once cooled, I poured out the water from the bowls and rinsed the yarn in cool water, just to make sure there isn't any remaining Kool-Aid that did not get absorbed.  My yellow color did not change, it is still the color of spaghetti. The Dark Cherry was a little muted. My yarn was a bit tangled with all the separate piles, but aside from one horrible tangle in the middle, it was not too bad to make it into a skein/ball once it was dry.  I was willing to risk it and it wasn't horrific.

 Next, I decided to do a two tone variegated on this Lamb's Pride bulky. After I bought it, I was told this color (White Frost) does not felt, which was a bummer.  I might as well color it.  I am going to make it half cherry and half orange. I soaked the whole skein in water in the sink.  Once it was thoroughly soaked, I squeezed out as much water as I could. I mixed two packets of orange in a cup of water and pushed one end of the skein slowly into it, to absorb the color.

 I let it sit for a couple minutes to sink through all the layers. Then I took it out, emptied the cup and mixed up two packets of Cherry and stuck the other end of the skein in the cup.

I put it in a Pyrex dish and nuked it for 2 minutes. The colors were a bit muted. I mixed a packet of orange with about an inch and a half of water in my cup and put the skein's orange end in it. Then I did the same for the Cherry. I nuked it in the Pyrex dish for another 2 minutes and here are my results. I then rinsed it with water and squeezed out as much water as I could and set it on a towel to dry (which I assume will take a while since it is still a tight skein). In a couple days I will work on making it a loose skein to help it dry faster and will know then if there are any white areas towards the middle. I feel pretty good that it is colored throughout.

Update: Here is the yarn in a loose skein, there are some white-ish areas but they are well spaced with the color.

Third, I took my other skein of spaghetti colored Cascade 220. I soaked it in water and wrung it out.

I put the yarn in a pot with one pack of yellow (lemonade) and three packs of Ice Blue Raspberry lemonade. I let it simmer for about 10 minutes then took it off the heat.

 Yellow + Blue = Green.  The yarn towards the bottom of the pan is a bit darker than the top, even though I stirred it occasionally.  I rinsed it and it is now drying on a towel as well.

For dinner last night, Allen made steak and twice baked sweet potatoes with Dukkah seasoning which my mom recommended. It was delicious!  As you can see, my idea of cooking in the kitchen is very different than my husband's! His results are yummy, mine just smell good.

Good times in Denver

(This post is mainly to revel in my new camera and the great photos it takes)

Yesterday was our 4th wedding anniversary and I got an awesome new camera. I used it for the photos I posted yesterday.  We had tickets to see Amanda Palmer at the Gothic theater (I think she classifies their music as Dark Cabaret? If you check her out online, check out her previous band The Dresden Dolls as well), and stayed the night at the posh Brown Palace.  It was a great time.

Allen took the day off. In the early afternoon, we went to Lime for margaritas and our usual sweet corn tamales and scorpion shrimp.  Then we went to the Esquire to see "The Master".  It was fine, but I think we were expecting more based on the Rotten Tomatoes reviews. Also, it was filmed in a certain film type that the Esquire's projector couldn't deal with very well. The movie was kind of grainy, and had halos whenever there was a lot of light in the picture.

We checked in to the hotel and went to the Tavern in the hotel for a drink.  The Tavern looks like the inside of a boat, all wood paneling, even the ceiling. 

 

We went to see Amanda Palmer and it was a great show.  Super energetic and fun crowd.  We were on the balcony just behind some people that were sitting on stools, so we had a great view. I'm only 5' so often do not actually see some of the bands when we go to concerts. Super fun, but when they started playing Wham's "Careless Whisper" we were ready to call it a night.

For breakfast, we went to the hotel's restaurant "Ellington's", which was included in our package. It was good, but I am a huge breakfast aficionado and I was not wowed. If you want awesome breakfast, "Snooze" is the place to go if you are willing to wait an hour to get in.  (I was going to recommend the red velvet pancakes with espresso maple syrup, but just checked the website and didn't see it on there any more.  I do love the Bella Bella Benny!  I usually pay the upgrade to get one pancake instead of hash browns.)

Bagels and Lox

Corned beef hash omelet with truffle hollandaise sauce

We went to the Tattered Cover book store downtown. I wanted to look at their European craft magazines. I wanted to see the latest "Mollie Makes" but they did not have it. I did like a British mag, "Stitch" but did not buy it.  We briefly wandered downtown and I took some pictures.

So Allen and I have been talking about exotic meats and possibly going to "The Buckhorn Exchange" sometime. In fact the best meal Allen ever made is an ostrich dish.  Allen is an excellent cook and is willing to put several hours in to make an outstanding meal.  It may sound like ostrich, pineapple, cilantro basil pesto sauce, banana mash, and Thai curry sauce won't go well together but this dish rocks! http://recipecircus.com/recipes/gijane/MEATS/Spicy_Ostrich_Tenderloin.html

Anyway, we decided to go to Steve's meats in Arvada to see what they had and picked up some Elk Sirloin.  I don't know for sure what Allen is making, but it sounds like it may have a port blackberry sauce.

Right next to the meat store, lo and behold, is a German bakery. I was not hungry in the least, but still wanted one of everything. I got one of these black forest tortes and Allen got a carrot cake torte. I kept eyeing the strudels and we ended up getting a half of one, strawberry cream cheese. 

 

It was a great time. I got to test out my camera. I get an awesome dinner with torte for dessert. Fantastic.

By the way, none of the pictures were taken with a flash, even the pictures of the drinks in the dark bar.   The photos below were after dark in Louisville, using a twilight mode on my camera - no flash, no tripod.