Saturday, January 26, 2008

More Yarn to Dye

I decided that I would try to dye some yarn again. It was so much fun the first time, that I thought I would give it another shot. Here are some pics. I'm not sure what I'm going to knit up yet...will have to see where the wind takes me.

Here's a little peak into the process (simplified of course):

First, I have to unravel the entire skein and wind it into a hank so I can place my colors where I want them. Once that is done, it gets soaked in a warm bath of soap in the sink. This makes it ready to accept the color.





Once it's done soaking, I can squeeze the water out and get it all set up for it's dye job.





I've used kool-aid and Wilton's cake frosting dye so far. Once they are all mixed up, I start spooning and squeezing the colors on.





After all the dye has been applied, it goes into a bowl and into the microwave. The heat is what coaxes the wool to suck in all the color. After it has cooled, it gets rinsed and then hung up to dry.




Last and most rewarding, it winding it back into a ball and admiring the colors that have come out.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Happy Birthday, Grandpa!


Ben and Great Grandpa



Ella (4 mo. old) and Great Grandpa...I have more recent pics, but I just love this one.


Today is a special day...today is my Grandpa's birthday! We sure wish we were up north to help celebrate such a great day...we always have so much fun when we are there.

There's just nothing like spending the day with Grandpa. He's one of my favorite people to spend time with. I love being around him and my kids love being around him too. In fact, the last time we were there, Ella didn't want to hang with me, she wanted to stay inside just so she could be with "great grandpa". Now those of you who know my daughter well, know that she must really love him to pass up spending time with mommy. She doesn't stray far from me unless it's for a really good reason...and I love that it was to spend more time with him.

Happy Birthday, Grandpa!! We love and miss you! We can't wait to come and stay with you soon. Thanks for being such a great Grandpa to me and a great "Great Grandpa" to my children.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Ugh

Well, it's official. We have been sick all weekend long. The kids have been suffering from a monster cough and runny noses for a week now. I ended up getting the flu over the weekend. All of this yuckiness ended up cancelling all of our fun weekend plans. I was hoping that this week would bring some healing, but I guess we will have to wait for that yet.

Ella slept horrible last night...or should I say barely slept at all. I was up with her at 3:30am as she cried about her ear hurting. We took her into the doctor to get it checked out. The doctor looked at her good ear and said "Wow...and this is the good ear!"...which didn't turn out to be a good sign. Diagnosis: raging double ear infection.

Keep us in your prayers as we try to heal and get back on our feet.
Love to all.

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Brrrr...It's Cold Outside!!



Whoa! It's cold outside. I thought -14 below yesterday morning was cold...but when my Grandma informed me it was -33 below up in northern Minnesota...well, I guess I just couldn't complain nearly as much as I wanted to. I am very ready for summer...but unfortunately I will have to wait for awhile yet.

Ella came out all dressed up in warm clothes. In fact, she had managed to get on 4 different layers of shirts. I was pretty impressed. Her little arms looks like the marshmellow man. She was pretty proud of her accomplishment.

Here's hoping a warm-up comes soon!

Thursday, January 17, 2008

My Own Hand-Painted Yarn





I have been wanting to dye my own yarn for awhile now. I've been reading up on it and researching it for a couple of months. On Tuesday, I finally decided to take the plunge. I unrolled my ball of natural wool yarn into a hank, mixed my kool-aid in various cups, and started painting it onto the yarn. I wasn't so sure I liked it at the beginning, but as it dried and the colors mellowed out a bit, it started to grow on me. Now with it wound back into a ball, I'm pretty happy with it. The big question is will I like it when it's knitted up?!? I'll post a pic when I get to that project and you can judge for yourself.

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Children's Museum











We went to the children's museum in St. Paul a while back. I was going through pictures and realized that I hadn't posted about it...so I wanted to share a little. The kids had a fun time and their favorite part was in an area called "my community". It consisted of all sorts of things that you see in your own communities...such as a grocery store, a fire station, a bus station, a post office, and a restaurant. The restaurant at the children't museum just happened to be a korean restaurant. I loved it...in fact, it brought tears to my eyes remembering our own journey to Seoul and all of the things that made it so amazing. Everything was set up to resemble an authentic korean restuarant from the ingredients and recipes down to the traditional table where you sit on the floor and eat your meal. There were even pictures on the wall of landmarks in Seoul that we had actually been at in person. It was so much fun and made me miss this wonderful country and it's people.