Summer Knit and Crochet

It's raining, or maybe it's not, but it's hot and humid and not a good afternoon out of doors. Sometimes Grandmother wants to just sit and knit. Or crochet.
I came across a project today that combines that much needed break from the weather with an idea for giving.

Arkansas Children's Hospital is now conducting it's annual Knitting for Noggins Knit-a-Thon with a goal of 30,000 knit or crochet hats by the end of October.
If you live near the hospital in Arkansas, you can attend the Knit-a-Thon there on October 14th.
Or you may want to host your own Knit-Together with your friends and create hats for the hospital. Go to their website to download a party kit that includes everything you need to host your own Knitting for Noggins party, including a flyer and printable invitation.
And of course, working on hats on your own is the perfect way to spend a summer afternoon.
Visit their website to find guidelines and addresses to send your hats.

Arkansas Children's Hospital, a place of care, love and hope, is a non-profit, private hospital, dedicated to helping children live healthy and productive lives. It is the only pediatric hospital in Arkansas and one of the largest in the country. The staff consists of more than 500 physicians and a 3,500 member support staff. The campus spans 26 city blocks and has a floor space totaling over 1,200,000 square feet. In the last year, the emergency room, outpatient and specialty clinics had more than 250,000 visits from children, not only from Arkansas, but throughout the world. The hospital has many one-of-a-kind pediatric specialists and is licensed for 280 beds.

Arkansas Children's Hospital is a world leader in many areas of care, utilizing leading-edge treatments, state-of-the-art facilities and aggressive research and development.

You'll find a good assortment of free patterns for knit and crochet hats at these sites:

Crystal Palace Yarns

Headhuggers

Lion Brand Yarn - By Kids For Kids Newsletter - July 2007

There's a great project in the Lion Brand Yarn's Kid's Newsletter this month -
Natural Dyes from Edible Items
I've used natural dyes for Easter eggs a few time, but never for yarn. (Guess what we'll be doing soon?)
Here's a portion of the newsletter, I know you're going to want to subscribe for yourself!

By Kids, For Kids: July, 2007
Natural Dyes from Edible Items
Creating your own dyes can be a fun and exciting way to personalize projects. This month, we show you how to make all-natural dyes and use them with different cotton and wool yarns.
We used only edible items purchased at our local market, boiling water and (in some cases) salt to make beautiful, all-natural dyes.

After trying our dyes, you will probably want to experiment with other natural food dyes of your own. Start by using fruits or vegetables that stain and experiment! You can mix dye baths to make different colors. You will probably find, as we did, that the colors are all -- surprise -- "earth" tones!

Because this project requires boiling water, adult supervision is required.

If you are not already a subscriber to BK4K, click here! It's free!

Selecting Your Yarn Different fibers absorb dye differently. We found that:
1.The all-wool yarns -- Lion Wool and Fisherman's Wool -- took color much more easily than the cotton yarns;
2.The soft pastel shades of the cotton were very pretty but very subtle -- much like the colors of home-made fresh fruit ice cream;
3.In some cases, the same dye produced one color in the wool yarn and a quite different color in the cotton yarn.
4.There was very little difference between the way the different wool yarns took color, but the Fisherman's wool fluffs up a bit more after handling;
5.There was very little difference between the way the different cotton yarns took color.

Your Equipment
1.Cutting board and knife;
2.Stainless steel or enamel cooking pots;
3.A stove;
4.If you are using beets, a grater;
5.A clock or 1-hour timer;
6.Tongs or spoons for handling yarn in the dye bath. If you plan to do several colors, make sure you have a different utensil for each so you don't accidentally contaminate your dyes;
7.Some place to hang the yarn to dry;
8.If you are making more than one color, index cards or labels to put with the yarn while it is drying so you can remember what is what.
9.Recommended, not required: a notebook to document your work. Use this to take notes about the materials, the process times and the results. Samples of the yarn are helpful, as are pictures. Having this information makes it easier to repeat a particular color.

The Dyes The colors in wool are different from those in cotton, but they are both pretty! (Wool is on the left, Cotton on the right)



Turmeric We found turmeric in the spice section of the market.
Click here for the recipe.




Skins of Yellow Onions We saved and used the skins of a dozen yellow onions to make this beautiful warm brown.
Click here for the recipe.




Grape Juice We used frozen juice and got this beautiful dusty-rose color on the wool and soft lavender on the cotton.
Click here for the recipe.




Beets The pink dye is not colorfast, but it is so pretty in the cotton that we can't resist telling you about it! If you make something out of it and wash the item, you will have to re-dye it after washing.
Click here for the recipe.

They've also included some patterns to use with your newly dyed yarn -

So now you've have some beautiful naturally-dyed yarn, what next? Using just one ball of the natural vanilla and one dyed a bright yellow with the turmeric recipe above, we made this fun retro purse set -- a VERY 60's holder for dark glasses, for a cell-phone and for small change or other little necessities.

Subscribe to the Newsletter Here!

From Caterpillar to Butterfly

We've been walking to the duck pond often in the past few days-

we're trying to find them again-

the caterpillars we found last year.

Until we do - Check out our Monarch Butterfly Project of Summer 2006

Frogland

Baby Frog: Mama, who is smarter- a chicken or a frog?
Mama Frog: We are of course!!
Baby Frog: How do you know?
Mama Frog: Well, who ever heard of Kentucky Fried Frog?

Now that you have your toad house, find out everything there is to know about frogs and toads at Frogland - http://allaboutfrogs.org/There are frog fun and games, frogs in the news, stupid frog jokes, caring for your pet frog or toad, frog coloring pages, even animated Frog TV that you can watch in a small pop-up window.
And yes...even though it's Frogland, there is plenty to see about toads -
just type "toads" in the search engine on the site and look at all the cool stuff you'll find!

A Home for Toad

-
Toad Village is located in a mossy corner of the yard, tucked into a nook beside the steps to Grampy's workshop in the backroom of the garage.


We spent a morning painting empty coffee cans in colors toads would like - two year old girls have an instinct for this sort of thing
We waited for the next day and the paint to be dry, then went outside to pick just the right spot for toads. We dug into the damp soil for an inch or so and lay the cans down on their sides. Then we filled in around them with the dirt and added a little inside to make the toads feel at home.
There were lots of leftover materials from our fairy house gathering expedition -we glued the pieces of bark, pine needles and cones, dried moss onto the cans using weather resistant glue. All that was left to make the village complete was the toad's pool.
An aluminum pan was stolen from the cupboard and sunk into the soil beside the houses. Rocks were added to the bottom of the pan to hold it in place and we poured in the water. Welcome Home, Toads!