All wound up with no place to go...

Yesterday's dyeing is done! Here are the finished skeins, all wound up...

Well, actually, all wound up except for the one that went maverick on me and needs to be untangled. I'm amazed that only one went awry; I put the loosely tied wet skeins in mesh bags and put them in my dryer. Oh, yes, I did! Two colors per bag, even, since I only have two mesh bags! I'm telling you, folks, I have a Risk-Taking nature! Maybe you could best describe my operating style as "what if" mixed with a dash of "whatever happens, it will work out okay." Those of you who know me are nodding knowingly and wishing fervently that I could confine that behavior to working with yarn...

In the interest if "what if," I've elected to experiment further with the leftover dye from yesterday. It was not exhausted (my back was, though), so I wound four 200-yard hanks of worsted weight wool, soaked them thoroughly, and left them in the dye pots overnight. Then I had Tall put them in the sunny flower bed for me and I covered them with trashbags and left them all day. They're still there. I will check on them after dinner. Once they're rinsed, I will know if I should put them in new dye baths or allow them to stay as they are. I suspect the dye bath was no longer strong enough to give me good, strong color, but I'll bet I have a good base color for painting over or overdyeing! Oh, Serendipity, you've been so kind to me at times; are you with me now?

I sent the pattern for Shirley off to Knitty. Could you please cross your fingers and toes with me until I say you can stop? Okay.. toes only. It's hard to knit with your fingers crossed. (I have knit with my eyes crossed, however. Story for another day...)

That's it for now, but I am sticking in this picture because I love looking at it. It tickles me! I would give credit for it, but it came from some random site on the web a long time ago and I no longer know the source. If you took it, thanks! It makes me smile. By the way, they're baby hedgehogs...