What Makes You Smile?

You know in school how you were assigned books to read and then you'd analyze the shit out of them? That doesn't really go away once you graduate, any level of schooling for that matter.

Now that we're on the same page {haha, see that little pun there? ;) }, I'm reading this book for work. It's a really great concept, and I'm not going to lie, I wasn't overly excited to read it at first. It's The 12 Week Year. I'm not that far into it, but again, conceptually is how we are looking at this right now. And conceptually, I agree with the book thus far. I'm about to begin the 3rd chapter. I told you, not that far.

What's been said thus far is really to get the idea of "annual" thinking out of your mind. December 31st is just a day, and the hype of the end of the year is all in your head. {I must stress that I am paraphrasing and this is by no means a summary! This is just how I am seeing the book right now.} It's not saying that goals aren't good to set, it's just that limiting yourself to a year or giving yourself too much time is the bad thing. Think about it. We wake up New Years Day and proclaim, "This is the year that I..." and fill in that blank. To get this out of your head I think is great. Too many of us procrastinate or prioritize the wrong things. We do what we think we should do, instead of what we really want to do. Yes we should get what we need to get done, actually done, but why is it that we stall in getting done what we want to get done? After all, needs and wants are two very different things.

To follow that, there was a section that really stood out to me even more so. Implementing the 12 week year makes you think about "what makes you happy?", "what do you want to be known for?", and "what do you want as your legacy?" And it really hit me, and it was truly silly, but we're always taught to dream, right?

What makes me happy?

Knitting. This is no secret to anyone. I love every aspect there is about knitting! Hence my previous blog post. It's literally a world!

What do I want to be known for?

Being a part of the knitting world. It seems like a small goal, but truly, it's what I want. I want to break ground in the knitting world and make my name known.

What do I want as my legacy?

I want to dye yarn. Again, this may seem silly to you, but to me, it's what makes me happy. It will definitely take my knitting to a different kind of place, but that makes me excited. I want to create, and I want to share my creativity, not just through my knitting projects, but through the material in which we create our projects.

So, I want to share with you how I've been experimenting with my desire thus far. I've gone with the non-toxic route because I love my cat and I have a small kitchen. I do not have the cupboard space for 2 sets of bowls and pots and pans to dye yarn with acid, let alone store 2 microwaves. That's just an intense setup and not to mention, I would still have to wear a mask... I would much prefer the safer route of being able to breathe clean air at all times. Which is why I picked food dye, cake dye, and natural dyes. This does not mean that the dying process doesn't include any binders or heat sources, they definitely do.

Now, like anyone does when they are curious of trying something they've never done before, you go to Google or YouTube. THIS WOMAN IS AWESOME! I would like to thank her for sharing so much knowledge, and so precisely given. She truly shows how to easily combine the sources you need for dying yarn. 1- Heat, 2- Dye, 3- Yarn, 4- Binder (mordant).

Let's get to the fun part. My latest dying:

Just a basic skein of yarn, about to go into a dye bath. To be more specific, a fingering weight 90% Superwash Merino/10% Nylon.

I got a wide array of colors. Sadly, this is my last skein of "naked" yarn, so I will need to get more before I experiment again ;)

Now my intent was straight to green, but I decided to play around with the lid of the blue a little. I loved it so much I added it a little later.

I've been wanting a green yarn so bad lately though, but I just can't help myself around this sky blue! Look how pretty it pairs up with the green! :)

Now I think I've found my favorite dyes and kettle dying is definitely my favorite.

Now all I need are a little more tools. My spoon and dropping it in the dye bath is great, but not always the effect I want ;)

Thanks for reading! :)

<3 Carly