the performance bonus chart

here's a little project i did on the weekend. in order to "inspire" the kiddo to mind his behaviour, we came up with "the performance bonus chart." his suggestion was to double his allowance if he did something nice. my suggestion was this.

it's made out of felt, stitched onto a cotton twill backing for stability. i added the tan borders to give it more of an old-time schoolroom feel. the dowel at the top keeps it from drooping. all of the materials - felt, fabric, velcro, thread, glue, dowel, eye screws, yarn, binder clip - were things i already had on hand. is that awesome, or just sad?

if he does something good, he gets a check. if he does something bad, he gets an x. at the end of the week, we add them up, subtract the x total from the check total, and he will get a quarter for every extra check.

the checks are just cut out of white felt, with a bit of velcro (the hook side) attached with fabric glue. here's a close-up of the back of an x:

i also have a few hearts and stars, just in case something amazing happens.

the extra checks etc. are in a ziploc behind the paper in the clip; the paper is to keep track of what he's saving for (inspiration!) and what each x or check is for (just a general note, not agonizing details). we'll see if he meets his goal on time.

knitting knitting knitting knitting knitting

yes, it's that time of the year. cardigan season. chilly.

i have been so very very good about not buying yarn this year. and i destashed a ton. but i got this lovely purple bua from someone else's destash - who can resist a sweater's quantity? and so. i am working on a girl friday cardigan, which i can see getting a lot of wear. also, i love that it looks a bit like a honeycomb from certain angles (not blocked yet, obvs).

and the double-leaf saroyan is chugging on nicely as well. half done! so pleased with how this dye job worked out. gorgeous colour, and amazingly not coming off on my hands. yay.

once these are done, i'm going to try to focus on finishing the ruddy reindeer sweater i started years ago. we'll see how far i get...

i'm dyeing here

i've been doing a bit of a purge lately, going through the stash, using it up, getting rid of leftovers, etc. one of the things on my "what do i do with this" list was a sweater i knit ages ago but never wore. it was tempting in merino et soie, which was the wrong yarn - too drapey, when i needed something with more spring - and the wrong colour. i'm not a pink person. why did i even buy pink yarn? i get funny ideas sometimes.

anyway, i frogged it, and planned to re-skein and wash the yarn and see if anyone else wanted it, when someone suggested i dye it. why not? what did i have to lose, if i was getting rid of the yarn anyway? and so soft!

i started by reading up on how to dye your yarn with food colouring and kool aid and whatnot, and when my head was overfull and hurty, i decided instead to just use plain old dye with instructions on it, and headed to fabricland to squint at the various packets of stuff. maybe i'll try food colour dyeing when i have more experience.

anyway, i needed to stick to the warm- and cool- water dyes, since my yarn contained wool, so i ended up choosing a bottle of rit liquid dye in teal, for a couple of reasons: it seemed easier to handle, it was exactly the colour i wanted, and was a better price (when you consider it's enough dye for a full kilo of fabric, and the dylon was only enough for 250g). also, it specifically mentioned instructions for wool and silk on the label, so that seemed a good sign.

i also got colour remover, because i wanted to end up with teal, not purple. for that i chose the dylon, because it included specific instructions for wool and silk. it said, "bring to a simmer, not a boil, and stir constantly for 20 minutes. allow to cool in the solution for 10 minutes, then remove and allow to come to room temperature before rinsing in warm water.

it took far less than 20 minutes to get this light! the solution didn't even reach a simmer, either.

but then i realised i forgot a skein. whoopsie.

i decided to throw it in anyway, why not? a few stirs and the colour was mostly gone. then i set the timer for 10 minutes for the "cool in the solution" stage, and by then it looked the same as the others.

next came dyeing. i had 250g of fabric, so i decided to use 1/3 of the bottle (since the label said "double the amount for really deep colour"). for wool or silk, the label suggested adding 1 cup of vinegar to the mix - since i was using 1/3 of the bottle of dye, i used 1/3 of a cup of vinegar. the instructions for sink-dyeing (as opposed to in a washing machine, which i do not have), said "stir constantly for 30-60 minutes." augh! so i checked the time and started stirring. about 10 minutes in, i noticed the water was clear! this is what they call "exhaustion." once the dye is "exhausted," why keep stirring? i stirred a while longer, just because. maybe 20 minutes total?

amazing. i gave the yarn a rinse - and another and another - until i finally got a bit tired of it. silk will take a lot of dye and give a lot up - i have red silk pyjamas that i've owned for over a decade, and they still turn the sheets pink if i wear them!

i had skeined it beforehand and tied it loosely with scrap yarn. next time, i will use cotton string - because while my merino et soie was fine, the scrap yarn i'd tied the skeins with was a felted melted mess! my skeins were a mess, too. this yarn does not look great wet - like a persian cat. i re-skeined it (and boy, were some tangled) to dry, and just doing that helped it get some of its loft back.

finally i wound it back into cakes. i'm pretty pleased! i think one ball does look a little lighter than the others, but over all they're pretty decent. this is going to turn into a scarf i think!

and this has me thinking of other yarn in my stash i might want to dye... colours i fell in love with and no longer remember why.

back in the city means busy

a week at the cottage, a week on the road, a week of back to school, here we are back to the city routine.

there never seems to be a moment's rest! we got a lot done this weekend, in between hosting and going to playdates.

first off, just for fun, the kiddo and i are working on a science project: the classic baking-soda-vinegar volcano! here's the papier mache shell:

we got the first layer of papier mache done early, so it could dry while we went out to get supplies for all of our planned activities. and i got a hairdo! (warning: terrible blurry pic)

then we made cookie dough (as yet unbaked, sacre bleu) and brownies:

(don't tell the kid they have black beans in them, he doesn't know they have any health benefits.)

then it was time to tackle the dreaded grapes.

i had swept up and tossed a good deal of detritus, but after friday's storm, there was more of that work to do. then, the harvest. harvesting grapes is harder than it sounds. they're above your head, which gets tiring for your arms, neck, and shoulders, and it's hard to see what you're doing. and they are a favourite of wasps. we have three varieties of grapes and at least that many kinds of wasps, all buzzing around angrily. the kid got stung the other day, so i was a bit more anxious than usual, and he, in the role of "basket handler," was extra-anxious. can't blame him.

but, we got all the concords. after washing, picking them over, and removing the stems, we had about 10 lbs.

then came the tedious work of separating the skins from the blobby middles. boring nasty work! watching the muppet treasure island made it a bit more bearable.

then the straining, the re-weighing, the cooking. ugh. 7 jars of jam, but that giant jug of juice tells you that i only got half the grapes cooked. the rest will just have to wait. i need more sugar and jars.

while waiting for the jam to climb those final few degrees up to the jelly point (about 221f), i got a few rows done on my canadian kal cardigan:

we finished off the weekend with veggie lasagna (sweet potatoes, spinach, and ricotta):

here's a side-view shot:

and for dessert, apple crumble. we picked the apples with our neighbour, from a tree growing in the alley behind our houses.

finally, we put a coat of paint on the volcano:

he wants to add a few more details after school, and with his teacher's permission, he'll take it to school on tuesday.