Tie Dye Fun
(Side note, check out that Terry Bradshaw hairline!)
Just before my little Hunter came along, my dear hippy crafting friend Kynna came over and we got to tie dying (why do I always want to type Tye Dye?). I was eager to create some tie dyed onesies for my little one to be and I wasn’t sure if the baby was a boy or girl or if his/her middle name would be Sunshine or not. In case you think that’s sarcasm, it’s not, we are still thinking about Sunshine for the next one! Anyhow, we thought tie dye would be adorable for any baby and my mother in law had bought me some plain white onesies so I was ready to roll. I hadn’t tie dyed since summer camp many years ago but I figured it couldn’t be too difficult if children could do it right?
I picked up a tie dye starter kit at Michaels and away we went. We had a few ideas involving swirls and patterns but mostly we just decided to be experimental. We tied and dyed for about 20 or 30 minutes and had 5 onesies ready to roll. It was fast, fun, and easy, what a great project! It was as easy as I remembered it and I could not have been happier with the results if I tried. Basically you mix up your dyes in squirt bottles (as per dye instrcutions), put some thickish rubber bands all over the onesie (or whatever you happen to be dying) and squirt away as you see fit.
The instructions for this particular dye called for saran wrapping the onesies once they were dyed and leaving them for 6 hours. We tried a couple at 2 hours and the others over night. The ones we left over night came out much darker, which I liked, although if you wanted a more pastel look I would leave them for less than 2 hours. Thanks for some good fun Kynna!
A Love Affair with Silk
Have you ever had a project that just wasn’t coming out quite as planned? I was working on a cardigan for myself out of the lovely Alchemy Silk Purse (far out of my budget but I had a moment of weakness). I was going along and finished the right front panel and the back before I realized that it just wasn’t quite working out. I can’t quite put my finger on it but I wasn’t happy so I started unraveling. Then I pondered. What should I do with this wonderful yarn? What would be better than a cardigan? Should I find a different pattern? Make something else? The questions were a little endless so I put the yarn aside and worked on some other projects for a while.
Just when I had nearly forgotten about it I came across a gorgeous pattern on the purlbee: The Evening Shrug. This was it, the pattern I had been waiting for! Although I really hate working with those tiny 12″ circular needles the results were well worth it. The shrug came out beautifully and really made the most of my luxurious silk yarn. I’ve been wearing it quite a bit as I’ve got a black and turquoise thing going on right now in my wardrobe.
That wasn’t the end of my silk love affair though, I still had 2 skeins left. What would I do with these last two sumptous skeins? I decided on the ever trendy triangular scarf with fringe from ‘Destination Alchemy‘. I figured a vibrant teal would add some zazz to any outfit and I was quite pleased with the result. I skipped the beading (not a fan) but I kept everything else. My only regret is that I can’t wear them together!
