That 70s Show.

Itchy and I have been scratching....okay, itching, to take on a project reminiscent of decades past....The 70s. While I was but a youth, Itchy was most-likely in her prime. Ah yes, I can picture her now, arms flailing in the air dancing around an impromptu bon-fire. Beads dripping from her neck, a hand strung crown of daisies sitting precariously upon her long flowing locks. A fringed suede vest is worn upon a tie dyed t-shirt emblazoned with rings of brilliant colours. A metal PEACE sign strung on a leather lace care freely hangs around her neck. In case the emblem around her neck goes unnoticed, she also has one on her belt buckle which holds up the bell bottoms jeans that hug her hips. And of course, she has an anklet of bells that jingle with each step her bare feet take. The faint scent of patchouli (that is patchouli I’m smelling, isn’t it?) wafts through the air with the sway of her arms as her and her hippy pals sing Kumbaya. Sorry Itchy, I don’t think sparkle dust was invented in the 70s.



Me, I was probably home watching the Brady Bunch or listening to my Donny Osmond music on the record player. Not to say that I didn’t have bell bottoms, but I was far too young to be dancing around in a field of daisies to the likes of Joplin, Joni Mitchell, Dylan, or CCR. I can, however, clearly imagine my pal Itchy there. Hell, I don’t think it would take much convincing for her to partake in such frivolity in the year 2010. Some things never change.


So what nonsense did Itchy and I get in to....well it relates to her years gone by t-shirt. We decided to experiment and combine our love of wool with our love of bold colours and put our hand to dying. But of course we couldn’t take the easy route and use regular store bought dye. Nope. We opted to try Kool-Aid. Turns out that both of us have wondered about such a project for years and decided to tackle it together.

Itchy came over with her wool, syringes to be used for application and her imagination, of course. She also brought along a WIP (work in progress). A pair of thrummed socks. For those who aren’t aware, thrummed items are made by knitting in the usual style, but every couple of stitches you knit a piece of roving (a small bundle of fibre) in with your fabric.

This is roving

The end result is a pair of extremely warm, very thick socks or mittens. In the North, the Inuit were/are known to put a large clump of muskox down in their gloves to keep their hands warm. The principle is the same. Anyway, as Itchy and I were chatting away, her knitting project must have fallen off the back of the couch because the next thing I know, Ernie is rounding the corner of the island in our kitchen with Itchy’s sock in his mouth. The sock is still mounted on her double-pointed needles and a tail of yarn dragging behind him. And isn’t he proud of himself.....

Not the best picture but between me rushing to grab my camera, laughing my ass off AND drawing Itchy’s attention to the little klepto, I was a little shaky. I was able to wrestle it away from him and return it to her with only the slightest amount of Ernie drool appearing on the fibres. Let’s face it, Ernie could do pretty much anything and Itchy would forgive him. The sun rises and sets by that dog and her own mob of hooligans and pretty much every other neighbour’s menagerie. Let’s just say he was lucky Itchy was so kind-hearted because he could have been in big trouble. Even the sun shine’s on a dog’s ass, is all I have to say.


Let’s get on with the show. Several days before hand, we found a few sets of instructions online detailing how to dye with Kool-Aid and then drove all over Charlottetown trying to find an assortment of colours. Who knew Kool Aid would prove to be so elusive?


Then we set up our plastic cups and carefully measured the correct ratio of water to the Kool-Aid powder setting off a cornucopia of aromas which induced a few more wholesome memories of the 70s. Since we seem to be very limited for types of Kool-Aid in PEI (we could only find 6 flavours and there are...well check this link out), we resorted to using Jello. Note to self, next time use sugar free. It turns out that you activate the STICKY factor when it gets wet. Sticky and wool don’t mix well. Also, if you are slow to use your dye, it starts to turn into Jello. Hmm? Who knew? Gelatinous Jello and wool don’t mix so well either. Lastly, if you use the product that contains sugar, the colour seems to be more diluted. Sugar free is more concentrated. With each cup that we made, we attempted to carefully place its corresponding package in front so that we wouldn’t get confused later on. However, there came a time when one concoction got away from its packaging so I bravely (stupidly) took a sip from the cup. (As any survivor of Jonestown will tell you, “DON’T DRINK THE KOOLAID!!!!”) Let me forewarn any other idiot that might attempt to discern the colour of Kool Aid by taking a sip of straight Kool Aid without the benefit of sugar. Just because you might be able to SMELL the flavour doesn’t mean you can taste it. NARSTY!


Once we had our rainbow assembled, we decided to do a colour test. Isn’t it pretty?

We also did a few combinations of colours because we weren’t quite satisfied with some of the colours that were generated.


We washed our wool in warm soapy water and then stretched it out on top of a plastic bag on the countertop and set to work. While I fiercely applied my dye using a chunkier effect, blending one stripe of colour into the next, Itchy daintily sprayed and sprinkled her wool with careful consideration.

Geez...can you tell which one is which?

Once we were satisfied with our respective application, we set to cooking our yarn. Itchy finished hers off in the microwave while I did mine in the steamer basket of a double-boiler. The end result. Itchy’s colours subtly blended together while mine came out looking like something a Rastafarian would wear upon their head. When her husband politely asked what I intended to make with mine, I threatened I was going to knit him a tie-dyed sweater. Perhaps it would cause him to reflect upon his time spent in the 70s.


TO BE CONTINUED.....