We Live to Dye Another Day

But First Things, First.

My sock. My lovely, lovely sock. I have finished the gusset and took out the purl ridge for the instep. I am a little concerned that it might not fit. But I always worry about such things and the cotton ones, in particular, always give me the most angst.

Still, it is delightful. The purl ridges were definately the loop I was caught in. Now that I am without them, well, it is ok to just be toted around. Funny thing, that little purl stitch.

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On To the Best Way to Spend a Sunday Afternoon...

The boys dyed their own skein of yarn to be made into mittens for them.

Eldest was particularly keen on playing with the colors and making his own yarn.

"Hey, Eldest," I say, "do you want to dye your own skein?"

"YEAH!"

"Will you wear what I make for you out of it?"

"maybe"

There is no winning with this child.

INBA put a lot of red onto this that turned a beautiful (not real boyish) hot pink. Luckily, pink is light red to him.

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Obviously, he is ok with it!

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The crocus turned out more Iris...

but I still like it.

The Purple split out into a blue.

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This was Blue and Black (that split out into some blue) and the same Purple as above, but here it went pink.

This might be my favorite.

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This is the Easter Surprise skein.

I used egg dye that was supposed to give (eggs) a marble effect... had an irridescent component.

Obviously, the kit didn't have too much dye in it.

I don't mind that.

When I rinsed it the water was lovely and sparkle-y. I love me some sparkle... but I was hoping it would be on the yarn! Ugh.

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Here are my finished skeins.

Special thanks to Laurie for all her know-how and patience with my (eager) boys.

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Fake Love

BBINH accused me of fake love. He says that kids can smell it a mile away and that is why they rejected the yarn. (I am paraphrasing here... 'cuz I know what you meant;)

The reality is: there is no more real love than a mother has for her family. It is not fake or insincere to offer up something perceive to be valuable by the receipient even though the giver does not share the same affection. That is still good love.

Fake would be for me to pretend that I give a whoop-de-doo about some franchise or another and act all crazy and stupid and spend inordinate amounts of money on dumb stuff just because it had a decal and then people would like me because I am all fakey and logo'd. That would be fake and insincere.

As it is, I love my family and I am trying my darnedest to find some sort of comfort zone while living in a place that I am not comfortable. I don't know how to love my family more.

It isn't a cliche for nothing..."If Momma's not happy, nobody's happy."

Still, BBINH makes a really valid point (even if it probably wasn't what he was originally going for,) there is no point in trying to be something that I am not. I seriously doubt I will ever care about the Steelers.... but I will say, "go Pens!" (you're right-- you can tell the difference!)

******ok, I am having troubles... blogger is squishing up my post. It did this once before, I thought it was me... but I keep trying to fix it, but it squishes it... what am I doing wrong? *****

Bad Blogger

Or, Most of June in One Post.

All the way back on the 8th or so, we went to see a Pirates game... and the Pirates actually beat the Diamondbacks! It was warm and my guys are so handsome and it was a great afternoon.

And then Eldest turned 8.

And this is what we saw for the next week or so.
It was a quiet ride to the beach!

North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. LONG drive from the 'burgh. Plenty of cousins... and critters...

games...

castles...

and buried treasure.

I didn't mean to catch this welcome on the aquarium sign... but does it leave anyone else scratching their head?

Because, I don't think you would want to touch this...

Despite the unnecessarily gloomy music, the Ripley's Aquarium did have a fabulous walk thru tank.

On the way home, we visited Virginia Tech so that Daddy could show off his alma mater.

And a trip for the engineer is not complete without taking an opportunity to visit a modern marvel like the New River Gorge Bridge. 800+ feet above the river. At one time the world's largest arch bridge. Yeah, I live with an engineer and probably one, if not two in training.

That little bridge down there was how one used to have to get across the river.

And while I was gone... Vesper Summer Sock Club wound its way thru the South Hills and landed at my door. The green thing is a tape measure. Woot!!

Is that gorgeous or what?

And then, just this Friday... Ms. A was caught red handed kool-aid dying on my back porch.

Isn't it cute how organized she is? We never lost track of which bottle was which.

Oh, and it is the perfect time of year to get dye bottles. I picked up the condiment bottles at the dollar store- 3pk for a buck!! And they are bigger than the ones in the candy making aisle at the craft store.

Here's one fine example of our handi-work... Each kid did a skein of worsted weight. Yes, Ms. A and I are kids, too :) Now the challenge is to think of something fun to make out of each.

That gets us up to date, I think... I can't believe that July is only hours away. The boys are doing a morning camp through the township, some library programs and we have a couple of weekend plans and then it is going to be August! Slow down, Summer!!

Hello

First things first.

I made a hat for Eldest. It is a pattern by Lacey's Wool Gathering.

Instead of the 6 colors, I used brown and the hand-dye that the boys made.

It turned out pink instead of red, so INBA doesn't like it- I believe he said that the hat looked "stupid." Yes, I am feeling the love at Chez Mayhem.

Regardless, Eldest liked the hat much more when I told him that it was his (their) yarn.

What ever works, I cannot be proud. Glimpse of Michigan

One of the highlights of the trip was a trip to Lake Michigan and the Sleeping Bear Dunes.

We love the National Parks and this was no exception.
I will start with the boys and me at the lake shore.

This is one of my favorite pictures from the scenic drive. That is Bar Lake in the foreground and Lake Michigan in the background.

Here are the boys at the tippy-top of the Dune Climb. See that little speck in between the boys? That would be me.
Call me a sissy if you will, but that was one heck of a climb that I made and I felt no desire to go to thinner air. Oh, and that would be little Glen Lake behind them.

Gee, they look like little angels, don't they?

Oh, and this was another highlight. Kati (middle) Kristyn (right) and Annette (bottom) went wine tasting on Old Mission Penninsula and then met up with The Mister and the Boys on the beach in front of the Holiday Inn in Traverse City. Quite a nice photo op.

And then, of course, I didn't take any pictures of my family that I see next to never. Ugh. I always do that. Still, a big shout out to My cousins and Aunts and Uncle. Hey, DoubleE, I am totally serious about the hair of your bison. And Stacey, you need to come to visit me, again. My Aunt gave me wool, my Cousin-in-law gave me mushrooms. I came home with wine and peaches and a cool candle. Maybe a little sock yarn and I might have fallen in love with a new spinning wheel at the Gaylord Yarn Shop. But, I am not sure that any of that can be proven.

Busy Weekend

Spring Inspiration

Hello, Crocus!

I am seeing this beauty as inspiration for a colorway.

Plans are being laid for my first excursion into dye-my-own-yarn love.

I am hoping to come away with a skein of Crocus.

Let's all cross our fingers, now.

Thank you.

The Harlot is coming! The Harlot is coming!

This is my hat to represent.

How come no one ever says how hard it is to take a picture in the bathroom mirror?

I think it looks better on, but you can see it a bit better off.

I think the pom-pom makes it.

I am not very good at pom-poms, perhaps because I have a love/hate relationship with the pom-pom. Well, not this pom-pom, just pom-poms in general. I don't care for most garter stitch, either, but it has it's moments, too. That's another day.

Anyway, my current pom-pom issue is that it is not as tight as I would like it to be...it is floppy! Maybe this is why I don't care much for pom-poms?

Whatever.

But I will give it over to represent, put my knitterly love out there to keep a head warm. Hopefully the receipient won't mind a little floppy pom-pom.

Let it Roll...

The Egg-Roll was rained out on Saturday.

Sunday afternoon proved to be a gorgeous make up time.

The boys grabbed their eggs and immediately camped out to sugar up.

This is INBA's pose.

I didn't know what he was doing, at first.

He was a bit peeved with me for taking too long to snap the pic.

The kids did an egg-roll and a couple of relays...

So cute,

So fun,

So soggy.

Check out INBA's backside.
His egg broke after only two wacks, but the yolk was pretty hard and made it to the finish line!

Eldest used the egg he dyed to run his relay.

Lucky for them, Mommy has some nice wooden spoons with good bowls to hold an egg pretty easily.

I wouldn't call that cheating, just another example of the right tool for the job.

Winter Took Its Toll

Oh, and then Eldest took advantage and broke up the front porch.

I don't think he realized what would happen when he broke out that one brick, but we ended up after a bit with about 6 or 7 bricks removed from the front of it.

So the Mister took advantage of the first nice day and fixed it.

I told him that I took this picture for evidence of child labor when CPS calls. He didn't think it was funny. Brick laying is a life skill. And besides, you help break it, you help fix it.

All work and no play would be dull for boys.

The finished project.

And in true fix-it style, only 4 left over bricks...

HUH?

Looks good, though.

Next repair is a rip out and put down interlocking pavers.

Hopefully not until next spring!

There is no point in trying.

Someone, whom I admire and respect as the Big Brother I Never Had, has said to me repeatedly, "Once you just love the Steelers, everything will be ok."

I told him that was bunk. But my boys have been indoctrinated with Steeler *ugh* mania. So, I thought I would try to be a good Mommy and indulge a little black and gold that isn't explicitly 'steelers' logo. I came across this Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in 'Bee Stripe' and snapped up 4 skeins. I figured, socks for INBA and mittens for Eldest.

I win because I get to knit nice yarn into things that my boys would wear and I could just ignore the colorway.

Do you know what they said when I showed them the yarn?!?!

INBA shouted, "NO! I don't like it!"

Eldest said, "Why?"

The Mister was the most enthusiastic with a, "sure" when I offered INBA's yarn for socks to him.

Can you understand my disappointment? I am trying here, people!

So, BBINH, The Steelers are not a magic pill.

I don't want to say 'I told you so," but, "I told you so."

Red Roving, Red Roving

INBA talked me into some red roving. He was looking to steal more of my Northern Lights, so I let him talk me into some Kraemer red roving. It is a little weird, I wonder if it is meant for needle felting or if there is even a difference in preparations... do you know?

All I know is that it is really tough for him to use with his drop spindle. And I know that I don't want to share my other bag of Northern Lights- Toffee!

The plan (at the moment) is to buy a fleece at Maryland Sheep and Wool (I paid for my bus ticket on Wednesday!!) that he and I can prepare and spin over the summer. He wants to dye some... Red! How did you guess? Which is fine, I think it will be a great project for us.
And some progress on the cobblestone. I have almost 2 sleeves done and another inch or two of the body to go. And, if the Mister didn't have such long arms and a long torso, I would have joined everything up by now! The joy and curse of custom creations.
I am really pleased with the pattern and with the yarn. The pictures don't do the color justice. It is a really warm and tweedy brown.

I finished the Fire On The Mountain socks.
I am frogging the gull wings in the crocus yarn.
I am itching to start another project, I am just not sure which one gets to go next!
Who feels lucky?