This being the first Family Day in Ontario history, I have an extra day off (two in a row instead of the usual one in a row...) Since it was a lousy rainy day out, the afternoon was spend dying sock yarn... I took 2 balls of sock it to me yarn from elann, in natural cream, and wound it onto my swift to make a loose skein. I attach the end of one ball with a knot to the other so that the skein is 100 gms and one skein will make 2 socks any size (usually I have some left over). I got some liquid dyes and powder dyes, (Rit) to see which are easier and I 
think I like the liquid best, but it is harder to find the colours. I use plastic cups (left over from Christmas) and mix one tablespoon of powder or 2 tablespoons of liquid to about a quarter cup of fairly hot water in each cup. There are good instructions on the Rit site. I used 8 colours for this sock. After I soaked the yarn in very warm water, I wrung out most of the water, and laid it in a 
circle on a plastic bag (big garbage bag split open). Then I drizzeled the dyes at two or three spots randomly around the yarn, leaving a small white space between the dye spots. After using all the dyes, I covered the wet yarn with the sides of the plastic bag and let it sit for about 20 minutes. At the end, it looked very 
muddy, but upon rinsing the separate colours emerged and softened, and some mixing of colours where they met made many more than eight colours around the skein! I like it.
think I like the liquid best, but it is harder to find the colours. I use plastic cups (left over from Christmas) and mix one tablespoon of powder or 2 tablespoons of liquid to about a quarter cup of fairly hot water in each cup. There are good instructions on the Rit site. I used 8 colours for this sock. After I soaked the yarn in very warm water, I wrung out most of the water, and laid it in a 
circle on a plastic bag (big garbage bag split open). Then I drizzeled the dyes at two or three spots randomly around the yarn, leaving a small white space between the dye spots. After using all the dyes, I covered the wet yarn with the sides of the plastic bag and let it sit for about 20 minutes. At the end, it looked very 
muddy, but upon rinsing the separate colours emerged and softened, and some mixing of colours where they met made many more than eight colours around the skein! I like it.
I know some kids would expect their mom's to be baking cookies on Family Day, and cooking a big meal or something, but my son, who was visiting from Toronto as he had a day off, looked at the yarn floating in the kitchen sink, then went for leftovers in the fridge. All was normal.
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