The Kool-Aid stash now contains packets from all three North American countries. I stumbled across these while picking up fresh corn tortillas and gouda cheese one day (I thought gouda was Dutch(?) but we found it everywhere). They are, left to right, Fresa intrépida (Intrepid strawberry), Naranja sensación (Orange sensation), Mora encantada (Bewitched blackberry), Piña maravilla (Pineapple marvel), and Uva lunática (Grape lunatic), all good Kool-Aid-ish names, I'd say. The Fresqui-Bon and the Zuko aren't for dyeing yarn (they already contain sugar), but for drinking. One is a hibiscus flower drink and the other a tamarind drink. They just happened to be in the same aisle, and since I love to eat fresh tamarinds and hibiscus flowers are the ones that the iguanas were so fond of (they also are used as a natural dye, btw), well, I just couldn't resist. All were declared as "souvenirs" at customs.
Travelling with 2 children, I didn't want any possibility of having to deal with questions about my aluminum dpn sock needles at security. It's enough trying to get everyone's shoes and coats off and on without anything else. Instead, I brought a plastic, circular Denise interchangeable in my carry-on and some cotton yarn for the so boring knitting of dishcloths. Good thing I did this because we actually needed a one at the hotel for doing our dishes all week (used one not pictured above). My mom was knitting squares for blankets for graduating high-school students from her church so when she ran out of yarn, she picked up my yarn and made one plain tan and one variegated one for me.
The rainbow sock knit-off is complete! Socka Color #2419 on the right, Trekking #100 on the right. Both were reinforced in the heel and toe with KnitPicks Essential, Grass. Both were knitted exactly the same on #2 dpns. Both knit up at 8 stitches to the inch.
Verdict: The Trekking is softer to the touch, but also feels thinner and seems like it won't hold up as well. The Socka Colori appears to be a sturdier yarn and I still prefer this one as the colors seem to blend together more smoothly, although I feel like I got reasonably matching pairs of socks from of both of these unpredictable colorways. One pair will be gifted at Christmas, but I'm not yet sure which one. There is plenty of yarn leftover to make bright rainbow socks for the boys, too.
The flight, by the way was magical. Looking past the wing, the sunset just kept getting deeper and deeper colored, far more so than the picture above. After flying up the coast of Baja and California, we landed into L.A. during rush hour, and the city looked lit up like a Christmas tree with strings of highway traffic for garlands. The rest of the way that night up to Seattle was interesting and beautiful, too, recognizing the lights of San Francisco and Portland along the way and flying by snowy Mount Shasta by near-full-moon light. There is something still magical to me about flying, something so out of time and place. And flying up the coast was like a trip down memory lane. I never realized until now that there's only a small bit of the coast (in Washington state) that I've not seen between about halfway down the Baja Peninsula and about half way or so up the inside of Vancouver Island. I don't feel like someone who has travelled much, but apparently I have.
I just saw at the local grocery store that they're trying to whittle down their leftover summer stock of Kool-Aid and they're going for 20/$1.00! Time to take inventory and restock!
