T-5 Days!

Oh holiday bazaar madness, you may be the death of me! I still have so much to do before the big day on Saturday. I sat down last night and made a checklist of things to do pre-show and things to bring and ho boy, it's kind of long. There are still 13 things on my prep/buy list, so I picked 6 to finish today. I was going to get a car today and go buy the last few things, but SOMEBODY decided to keep me up off and on for 5 hours last night. I only have 7 hours to sleep, dude...not cool. Shopping will have to wait until tomorrow.

So I think I mentioned in another post that I picked up some citric acid and started subbing that in for vinegar to dye my yarn. I am starting to have issues with it... Supposedly 1 tbsp citric acid is equivalent to something like 6-8 tbsp vinegar. I am not big on measuring, so when I used vinegar I would just pour a few glugs in the pot when i turned the heat on, and if the dye bath didn't clear I would add a few more glugs. (very technical term here, "glugs") I have checked several guides, and they recommend 1-2 tbsp citric acid for a pound of fiber. Last night I used 7 tbsp of citric acid and my dye still wouldn't set fully! I ended up with pink yarn instead of red...very frustrating. I'm going to find some pH strips to see if maybe I got a bad batch of acid.

I also only have two balls of undyed yarn left in my stash, yikes! After Saturday I will be ordering some more for sure!

TIM...

(Today I Made...)

- a ghetto light box
- an Etsy store banner

...and it totally burned me out. Damn. I need a crafting/business break.

Why, hello there, Starcraft! Fancy meeting you here!

In-Stock Dyes

Color approximations, as well as all available colors, can be found here.

Reds/Pinks:

Turkey Red
Cranberry
Fuschia
Bright Red
Rose Pink

Oranges:

Spiced Pumpkin
Saffron
Bright Orange

Yellows:

Golden Yellow
Golden Pear
Lemon Drop

Greens:

Ivy
Avocado
Herb Green
Moss
Spearmint

Blues:

Turquoise
Brilliant Blue
Nautical Blue
Colonial Blue
Island Blue

Purples:

Brilliant Violet
Lilac
Boysenberry
Lavender
Plum

Neutrals:

Jet Black
Mouse Grey
Brown
Mochachino
French Vanilla

Last updated 11/19/10

7 woolies down...

...many, many more to go. My goal is to have at least 16 pairs finished by the fair on 12/4, 4 of each size, evenly divided between longies and shorties and boyish and girly colors. I am remarkably on track. If I continue finishing one pair every other day, I will actually have over 20 finished, but I have to factor in time to wash the suckers and let them air dry before the event. My to-do list still includes ordering business cards and designing some sort of care sheet/tag/thingie, finding a pretty table cloth, getting shopping bags and a simple receipt book...ho boy. Who knows how many crucial steps I am missing because I am flying by the seat of my pants here. Still, I am SO excited!!

Tonight I tried dyeing with Kool-aid for the first time, and I can definitely see the appeal. It certainly smells yummier than my usual vinegary cauldron, and the water was practically clear after one rinse, compared to the 4-5 rinses acid dyes take. But, at the volume I'm working with, it would be so much more expensive to use and the color selection is pretty limited. To keep my wonderful, kind, patient husband content I'm ordering some citric acid right now - he complains to no end about the acrid stench while the dye pot is bubbling. And, of course, since I have to pay for shipping anyways, some new dye colors! *steeples fingers and cackles maniacally*