Sorry about the little blogging siesta, friends!  I have just been having looong days at work where I come home and just need to veg.  But I have still been reading everyone else’s blogs – I’m especially enjoying seeing everyone’s vacation pics! 

I have been doing some knitting and dyeing since the last time I posted.  Carla is coming right along, I’m up to the raglan decreases on both sleeves right now.  I hope to finish them this weekend and I’ll have an update for you Monday!

On the dyeing front, I decided it might be nice if I actually READ THE DIRECTIONS for the acid dyes I bought, and tried dyeing again.   

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Originally uploaded by kerner.

This time around, I’m using some nice fall colors and some sportweight superwash yarn that is perfect for that quick-knit pair of socks or even a hat or gloves.  My first batch is done and ready for sale at Simply Fibers here in Springfield.  (Not all of the hand-dyed sock yarn is mine – ask Carol to point you in the right direction!)

I’m still getting the hang of dealing with the chemicals, but I was really happy with the colors this time around.  

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Originally uploaded by kerner.

And here we have the finished project hanging out in my dogwood tree to dry.  It dries so much faster outside, but I always get a little paranoid that the birds are going to find it and either (a) poop all over it or (b) snip it to bits and make little hand-dyed nests for their chickies.  Luckily it is just paranoia, and the yarn survived quite well. 

I will probably do a bit more dyeing this weekend – I have a few skeins that need overdyeing – both are a little light for my taste – and one more skein that is a totally blank canvas.   

Last note on dyeing:  I have sent out matches to everyone involved in the July installment of the Project Spectrum Hand-Dyed Yarn Swap – if you signed up and haven’t heard from me, please let me know.  Happy dyeing!  (This month is purple…. I had a little purple overload last winter, so I’ve been trying to branch out a bit.  I don’t have any purple projects planned at the moment, but I’ll see what happens!)