Diesel Honda
Bloosbabybro here. I may be somewhat biased since I do diesel engine development for a living, but I’m really looking forward to being able to buy a decent diesel-powered passenger car in the US. By “decent” I mean a Toyota or a Honda (sorry VW). Honda will be bringing their 2.2 L 4-cyl diesel to the US in 2009, most likely in an Acura first (a little pricey for me). If they start selling say, the Accord, with a diesel engine before my current car croaks, I will be very tempted. If they don’t make it in time, I guess I’ll just have to go for the Civic Si.
Why diesel? Well, a diesel engine has around 30% better fuel efficiency than a comparable gasoline engine. Granted, depending on the current diesel vs. gasoline prices, your savings in fuel might not offset the additional price that you’ll typically pay upfront for a vehicle with a diesel engine. But so many people get excited about the MPG of gasoline-hybrid vehicles. With a diesel you’ll get better MPG (or worst case, comparable) than a gasoline-hybrid – especially on the highway. Diesel-hybrid? Now you’re talking. Anyone interested in MPG north of 70 MPG?
Fourth Graders Have No Fear When Dyeing with Kool Aid
That’s one lesson I learned yesterday when I did some Kool Aid dyeing with DD #1’s class today. I worked with them in groups of 9 and let them have free rein as to the colors of dyes they mixed up. They worked in groups of 3 and each group mixed up their own dye solution and applied it to the yarn. I explained to them that they would want to be thoughtful about what flavors they combined. For example, red and green would most likely turn some form of brown, etc…
A few things I learned:
1. Fourth graders will ignore what you say about color theory and come up with odd mixtures that turn out really cool in the dye pot.
2. Arctic Green Apple Kool Aid mixed with Pink Lemonade makes bubblegum pink. Who woulda thought?
3. Olive green can be made by combining Orange with Lemon-Lime.
4. When you buy rubber gloves and the package says 12, check to see if that is pairs or single gloves. I bought three packs of 12, thinking that meant PAIRS, only to discover with my second group it meant SINGLE gloves!
5. Baking soda mixed with water and used like hand soap will remove unsightly Kool Aid stains from your hands.
6. Fourth grade boys will steal packets of Kool Aid when you’re not looking! (LOL- I made them put it back, but I couldn’t be TOO angry over a 20-cent packet of Kool Aid! It was actually hard to not laugh at them.)
7. Write down each dye recipe. Because of their fearlessness in combining colors they will come up with really cool colors you will want to duplicate and you will NOT remember how they did it. You will forget it all in the busyness of cleaning up, telling the boys to stay out of the ginormous bin of rubber balls that occupies the room you are in, confiscating rubber gloves that are being blown up like balloons and reclaiming stolen Kool Aid packets.
8. Fourth graders have their own name for yarn swift- Yarny-go-round!
We had a lot of fun! I think it was a hit with the kids, too. DD #1 came home and told me that one of her friends said my mini-class was her fave and when I dropped DD #1 off at another friend’s house for a sleepover, said friend greeted me by saying, “You’re class today was really cool! “
Here are pictures of each group’s results.
Here is the yarn from group one. I think I will call it Grape Ape.
Here’s group two’s yarn. I’m calling it Amber Waves of Grain.
Group three. I wanted to call it Jolly Green Giant, but once it dried it made me think of the beginning of spring when everything starts to turn green. I will call it Think Spring.
Monday I will post with pictures of the yarn re-skeined and knitted swatches. Would you believe the kids wanted to see a sample of their yarn knitted? Meanwhile, I better clear out before Babybloosbro invades tomorrow. Wouldn’t want engine grease on the yarn! LOL
So… What is it?
This week I participated in a Mystery Dishcloth Knitalong. For those of you who don’t know what that means, we knit the pattern a few rows at a time, sight unseen. It was pretty fun, but when I was done, I could not for the life of me figure out what is was!
The margins won’t let me put the full size image, so click for big.
Can you tell?
Here’s how I figured it out. I started by asking my kids and the DH. They thought it might be a house, or a window box with flowers in it. I asked a friend of mine. She thought “mushroom cloud”. I didn’t arrive at the right answer until I asked DD#1’s friend. She took one look at it and said, “Easter basket!” I promptly went to the group website and sure enough, she was right! I guess I don’t have enough imagination to be doing this sort of thing….
Soaring with the Eagles
Yesterday we went to the Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area to see the Bald Eagles. We were lucky enough that there was a group of about 50-60 eagles, just hanging out by the river, for our observation. This was a pretty cool experience since I have never seen a Bald Eagle in the wild before. We got some great pictures.
This one stayed in the same spot, watching the whole time we were there.
I’m no birdwatching expert, but I think that’s a hawk.
So there is your very photo-laden post for today. My DH did such a good job on these that it was hard to choose! Especially when you’re starting with 40 photos!
Happy Camping!
Since it was so hard to get home. I thought I’d better show off our new camping trailer. Bloosbabybro congratulated me on buying a new trailer that is nicer than my house. I don’t know…. it’s only 17 feet!
Come on inside for the virtual tour.
Here’s the teeny-tiny kitchen. Yes, that’s a microwave. It seems as though you can either buy trailers that have more than you want or a whole lot less than you want…like…. no bathroom. Sorry, if I’m buying a trailer, I’m getting a decent bathroom. 
Next is the dining area. Those curtains behind it hide one of the beds. And the other bed is on the other side of the kitchen.
Oh, and for the info of my immediate family: It sleeps six, has AC, only one bathroom and no dishwasher. And as for how close to the lake it is, well, as close as I can get it!
Who are you, what have you done with Bloosgrl, and what is that thing?
First of all, I should start by mentioning that I am not Bloosgrl. Bloosgrl is my oldest sibling and she has invited me to be a weekly guest on her blog. Sorry, no knitting info from me. Probably mainly entries about music, cars, engines/fuels (especially diesel), and maybe some joys/pains of cross-cultural marriage. Nice to meet you. You can call me Bloosbabybro.
Bloosgrl and I both enjoy good music. We also enjoying finding artists who are new to us and sharing our finds with each other. One of those recent finds is Andy McKee. His song, “Rylynn”, is one of the most beautiful pieces of music I’ve ever heard. A video of him playing his song “Drifting” has over 11.5 million views on Youtube.
Check out this link of him playing “The Friend I Never Met”, a harp guitar tune. Andy isn’t the first person to play a harp guitar, but I had never seen one until I started getting into his music. “The Friend I Never Met” is dedicated to Michael Hedges who was also a very gifted guitarist and harp guitarist.
Enjoy and see you next week!
Magic Newborn Slippers
These were a fun, quick knit and they use very little yarn.
I decided they needed a little embellishment and I thought these little pink buttons fit the bill. They will be for my neighbor’s new baby.
Pattern: Magic Newborn Slippers
Yarn: Knit Picks Bare Superwash Merino Sock Yarn
Needles: Size 1
Happy Valentine’s Day
Wow! It started snowing yesterday around 2 pm and I don’t know when it stopped. We’ve had reports of hurricane-force gusts of winds and schools are on a 2-hour delay. I guess my Valentine’s Day gift is that I don’t have to rush the DD’s to school this morning.
There was one elementary school that actually had 60 kids who had to spend the night and a school bus that was stranded for hours with kids on it.
I was glad that my DH got our new camping trailer home safely. His brother actually drove it here in the middle of all this crazy weather while my DH followed him in his truck. Anyway, it’s here and there were no accidents, at least for us! My brother-in-law and sister-in-law were at the dealership helping my DH get all set with the trailer and bring it home. I stayed home and shoveled several inches of snow off the driveway so they could get it in when they got here. Kind of ironic, buying and bringing home a camping trailer in the midst of a blizzard!
Anyway, it’s a good day to stay inside and do lots of knitting and reading, or listening to audiobooks. I just listened to one a couple of nights ago with the DH that we both really enjoyed. My friend said it was good listening for Valentine’s Day and it really is! It’s The Fulness of Life by Edith Wharton. I know I’ve read stories by her before, but somehow I missed out on her gift with words! This is a beautiful piece of prose and a great little story and it’s only 20-30 minutes long.
Have a wonderful Valentine’s Day. I’m going to curl up on the couch with a blanket, drink some herbal tea and do some knitting and reading!
Tiny Things
I love these socks! These tiny little socks are destined for my sister. I will be getting another niece very soon!
Pattern:“Little 16″ Newborn Socks
Socks: Knit Picks Superwash Wool, Hand-dyed with Kool Aid by me
Needle size: 0
Next time I think I will do this on 2’s, since 0’s are like knitting on really bendy toothpicks!
I love these colors though, it makes me think about spring! As matter of fact, I casted on for another tiny project with this yarn. It’s time for winter to go away!
Wallaby/Hawser EPS Hybrid Sweater
You all know how frustrating the Wonderful Wallaby Sweater was for me to knit. I’m such a sucker for my kids! DD#2 asked if I would knit one for her, and well…..I said yes! I just couldn’t look into those sweet brown eyes and tell her no. I’m a sucker!
I really did not want to knit this pattern again. Not. Ever. Here’s how I solved my problem. I decided to make a Wallaby-styled Elizabeth Percentage System Sweater. The Reader’s Digest of what that is? You start with the chest measurement, we’ll call that A. Then you calculate, based on your stitches per inch, how many stitches around your sweater needs to be. Other parts of the sweater, like the sleeves or neckline are simply a percentage of A! How easy is that? It also just so happens that the second group of lessons in Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Knitting Workshop is for making a sweater with a hawser pattern around the neck, which I wanted to do. So now, I’m knitting a basic pullover EPS with pouch pocket from the Wonderful Wallaby and the hawser pattern around the neckline and sleeves. I decided that since I felt a little tentative about my color choices and where I put them in the colorwork, that the cuff of each sleeve would be a great way to swatch it. My first try didn’t look right, I like my second attempt much better.
I knew it looked pretty good when I showed it to some of DD#1’s friends on Sunday when they were all in my kitchen and they all went, “OOOOHHHH!” at the same time.
