Tie Dyes, Cattle and a Wipe Out

The kids have been begging for it so I made it happen, 2012 tie dyes!  

We passed on this great tradition last summer due to our move and my pregnancy so I was feeling a bit rusty on the technique.  But early in the morning of Memorial Day I threw on the old tie dyed sweatshirt, mixed up the first batch of dye and the energy and excitement for this project instantly returned.  

    

I was so excited about it that I thought to incorporate a quick lesson on textiles and chemistry for my crowd of participates, children mostly under the of 12.  But I think I lost them when I started explaining the cell structure of cellulose fibers.

So we moved on to the demonstration and I had their immediate attention.

Then the tying and dying finally began.  Two amazing and talented friends, Beth and Jessica, took to it like pros.

We invited the kids to participate in shifts of three at a time and when it was not their turn I encouraged them to play far from the dye table.  There was plenty nearby to keep them entertained, singing to babies, spraying each other with the hose, climbing trees, eating foil dinners and playing with goats.  We really packed it in and kept the party going until we ran out of day light.

Earlier in the day, before we started the tie dyes, Paul took a van full of boys to a nearby livestock auction.  He's been thinking about beef cattle and was determined to make it happen.  They came home empty but he made contact with some local farmers who led him to some available cattle.  He negotiated the deal while tending to the foil dinners and 2 beautiful Angus heifers were picked the very next day. 

Meanwhile back home I was suffering from a little wipe out.  You see the most fun part of tie dying is untying and opening up the surprise.  I started the rinsing before noon and I was bounding around the house in so much excitement from the process I decided to jump and skip over the 3 last steps going down to the play room, I landed on Paul's size 16 Keen sandals, twisted my ankle and wiped out.  I greeted Paul's return from picking up the cattle crawling on my hands and knees to the side porch.  He was then a gentleman and carried me like a new bride to the pasture to give these little ladies a visit.

I've been hoping for a small break in my cooking and cleaning duties and I suppose this wipe out allowed it to happen. I have not been able to stand or walk since.  

  

Today we are all in our tie dyes and that is enough to lift my spirits while I continue to ice my foot and keep it elevated on the couch.  Just happy I got them rinsed, washed and hung before my injury.  

So here's to the making of multiple memories in just one day.  It seems our days are as vibrant and unpredictable as the very shirts we created, sometimes we have an idea of what we'd like happen, and sometimes we just show up, in both cases we go with the flow and enjoy the unfolding of it.  The joy of it being in both the process and results, whatever they may be.