Yea! Oscar Day!

It's Oscar Day -- one of my very favorite days of the year. I can't wait to spend the entire evening sitting on the couch in my old jeans and sweatshirt, eating junk food, knitting, and snarking about the unfortunate hair, makeup, and wardrobe choices made by the stars (as well as the unfortunate choices made by the Academy). Back when I was in Michigan, I'd have my friends over, and we would snark together, but today, I shall be snarking solo. My husband will be in the other room, trying to ignore me.

Tonight, I'll be finishing up Baby Sweater 1.0. Last night, I finished the first sleeve -- just one more sleeve (and the button bands) left to go. Maybe I'll go so far as to start Baby Sweater 2.0. Or perhaps Baby Blanket 8.6. Or perhaps I'll blow off all my pregnant friends and knit something for myself. Something fabulous. Something that would wow them all on the Red Carpet.

In other news, have you seen the new summer yarns at KnitPicks? YUM! I'm thinking the new Shine Worsted is calling my name. I will, after all, be placing another order this week -- because I obviously need more dye-your-own wools. Lots of it.

BTW -- the dyes that we were testing out on Friday were actually Procion MX Dyes. They weren't the acid dyes -- yet -- but they are permanent. These are supposed to be just for cottons and silks, and the acid dyes are supposed to be better for wool -- but we found that these worked wonderfully on wool. The colors were so vibrant!

The dyes come in a little jar, in powder form. You mix them up (and, if you're working with cotton, mix in some soda ash), and there you have it. We tend to wing it, as opposed to strictly following the directions, but it's actually worked really well for us. I can't wait to do more! I think I've already figured out what I'm going to do with the Project Spectrum yarn that I'm going to dye. And I'm thinking some pretty hand-dyed lace weight yarn is in my near future, too...