Knitting for Love (And using hair color on children)

Tonight's the night!  Harry Potter fans everywhere will participate in the insanity of forgoing normal resting hours in order to be among the first to see this last installment at a midnight showing.  Not me.  While there was a time, back in the day, when sleep was just a novelty with no real significance and midnight movies were all the rage... I am now much too old and am doubtful that any level of excitement could keep me awake for a 2+ hour movie at that time. 

D, however, is fortunate to have a friend whose parents faithfully take their children to such significant movie premieres.  They are either insomniacs or much younger than me... I'm not sure which... but I am so grateful that they are including D in their family outing tonight. 

D wanted to be Ron Weasley.  For those of you not familiar with HP, Ron often wears sweaters handknit by his devoted mother.  I'm thinking.... Yes!  I can do this. 

However, Ron is also a redhead.  D is blond (see above).  Enter Clairol Jazzing temporary hair color in "Red Hot".  In spite of the fact that I have never had anything better than a mildly disastrous experience in my many attempts to use beauty supply store products on my own hair, not to mention the whole trauma of possible outcomes of putting anything called "Red Hot" in his hair... I was determined to make this boy a redhead.  And, after an exhaustive search, this was the only option we could find. 

So, I started with a very small area in the back which was a good decision because boy did it turn red!  We left it in about 10 minutes, rinsed... and it was gone.  Completely.

Then I tried a larger section, rubbed it in real good, left it in for about 20 minutes, rinsed... and it vanished like Houdini.

With a pesky (and often dangerous) sense of determination creeping over me, I dumped half the bottle on his head, rubbed it in, covered it with a small plastic garbage bag, left it in for 25 minutes, rinsed and shampooed (according to the very vague you-should-probably-be-a-professional directions).  And...

in the right light he had a subtle strawberry blond tint to his hair.  Certainly no Ron Weasley and far from "Red Hot".  (Yes, he will hate me for that picture... but after all the knitting with acrylic yarn and hours spent playing hairdresser, I feel I'm within my motherly rights to post it.)

So this morning I woke up, got a Venti Iced Mocha, and stared down the bottle of Jazzing.  Once again, I attacked his hair.  Section by section, I coated it thoroughly... daring it mentally to betray me again.  Then I pulled out my hairdryer, got his hair nice and warm, covered it again with a plastic trash bag, and stood there for 25 minutes fanning the hair dryer over his head.  I then pulled the plastic off his stiff "Red Hot" hair and we headed once again to the kitchen sink.  I rinsed thoroughly and opted for conditioner only instead of shampoo.

The results....

Perfect!  We couldn't believe it!

The Weasley Sweater pattern can be found in Charmed Knits by Alison Hansel or, I believe, free on the internet.  (Try google.)  I was able to find the chart for the letter "R" here.  I knit the child's medium and adapted the pattern to knit in the round.  I used just over three skeins of Bernat Waverly in "Incense" for the body and a bit of one skein in "Gypsy Gold" for the "R".  Having become a total yarn snob, this 100% acrylic yarn wasn't my first choice but it met all the criteria for this project... right gauge, color, and price (apx $3.50/skein).

Regardless of my opinion of the yarn, D loves the sweater and swears it is the most comfortable thing he owns.  I bit my tongue and soaked up the gratitude. 

I could further reflect on the possible social influences that oddly provoke a sudden Harry Potter movie-going interest among older teenage boys, but I fear that might really land me in some trouble.  So for now, I will attempt to decide on a cabled pattern for my 2nd Camp Loopy project which I will start tomorrow.  What do you think?  Socks or gloves?