Despite having been completely exhausted yesterday, I managed to have a very productive evening last night.  I cleaned up the kitchen and got to work on a couple projects that I’d been wanting to do all week…

I made my first attempt at dyeing yarn.  Like most people (I think), I chose to use Kool-Aid for my first try.  The yarn I used is a laceweight merino made by Jojoland.  I picked the “Berry Blue” and “Lemon Lime’ flavors of Kool-Aid for my colors.

I really didn’t know what the heck I was doing.  I loosely followed the directions given here on Knitty.  But for not having a clue, I was fairly pleased with my results.

I wanted to try dip-dyeing one hank and handpainting the other.  I used three packets of the “Berry Blue” to dip-dye.  I visually divided the hank into 4 sections and submerged them 10 minutes at a time — so the darkest section was in the Kool-Aid mixture for 40 minutes, the lightest was in for 10 minutes.

I made an attempt at handpainting the other hank.  Wow was that messy–it made me very glad I was working with Kool-Aid and not acid dye for this first try.  (Then again, had it been acid dyes, I probably would have been smart enough to put on rubber gloves, duh.)  I had green fingers for the rest of the night till I took a shower and shampooed my hair.

For this hank I used 2 packets of the “Lemon Lime” and only 1 packet of “Berry Blue” and I poured a little of the green into the blue.  I painted on the colors and then zapped it in the microwave for 2 minutes, let it sit for a few minutes, and then gave it another 2 minutes.

I’m pretty pleased with how they turned out, at least for a first try.  I really love the semi-solid blue (but I’m also going through a “semi-solid-phase” right now).  I kind of wish I’d gone a bit darker with the blue on the handpainted hank.  Oh well.

Now I just have to come up with something to knit with these!  I had wanted to do one into a scarf and the other into socks, but I’m not sure if the yarn is a bit too lightweight for socks (it’s kind of heavy-laceweight).  Hmmm.  Guess we’ll see what I can come up with once the yarn is dry.

After I was done dyeing last night and got all cleaned up from that, I messed up the kitchen again with another project…

SOAP!!  I’ve quickly become hopelessly addicted to playing around with soapmaking.  It is just TOO much fun.  And the mold I just got (pictured, left)!!??  Check it out–knitter’s-soap!!  (Can you tell I’m excited?)

So I’ve been experimenting.  So far I’ve just done melt-and-pour soaps.  Last night I got to try out the new pigments, micas and glitter-colors that I just got.  I also tried handpainting the molds for the first time and experimented with some really awesome new fragrances.  I’m psyched.  These are going to make fantastic Christmas gifts.

I also downloaded the “hazardous materials” form to fax in so that I can order some sodium hydroxide (lye) and start doing some real soapmaking.  I’m very, very excited about that.  I sure which high school chemistry class had been this fun!

So I’ve been very busy… now I just have to get back to some actual knitting!!