Still Hip Deep

The last few weeks have been so outrageously busy! I dyed yarn last weekend, both the six skeins of Mardi Gras and the six skeins of Robyn's Egg (photos coming, I swear!), plus a few odd things I was trying with color. I think the dye gods are messing with my head. For some reason I could not achieve the same subtleties of color as I did previously. The Mardi Gras is darker than I intended. It's still beautiful, but it's not what I'd hoped for (need to back off on the intensity of the green and the lavender). The Robyn's Egg had a green that was much too strong for the light blue (on my trial run the pale green merged into the pale blue rather magically), but it served to balance the darkness of the yellow so it worked out.

*sigh*

Yesterday I dyed six skeins of Thunderstorm and the results are magnificent! I got the balance of greys and blues just right. They are hanging to dry in the bathroom. (I've got to figure out a way to rig a drying rod outdoors for the future.) Also hanging to dry are

• a 3 oz skein of sock yarn that had been bright berry colors that, when I started knitting with it, I just couldn't stand the cloying colors, so I overdyed it with navy blue.
• an odd skein of DK weight showing a variety of new colors (charcoal grey, baby pink, ecru). The charcoal grey tends to go kind of greenish.
• a 4 oz skein of Louet Gems sport weight now in honeycomb/cranberry done with Gaywool dye in the microwave -- not bad.
• an 8 oz skein of Louet Gems worsted weight now in "lily" (the Aussies have an interesting sense of color names -- this one is actually a deep blue-green) done with Gaywool dye on the stove.

My DH was complaining about the state of the kitchen from all of my dyeing activities last night. This is the first time he has complained, and I put it down to his having a cold and feeling miserable. I did point out to him that I had needed to tidy up the kitchen from all of the dirty dishes, pots and pans (cleaning the kitchen is his job) before I could even begin my work. Besides, I tidy up after my work (meaning he does not tidy up after cooking).

In other news, the shower curtain rod in my bathroom is showing signs of rust. Yes, through the chrome coating. Yuck. I definitely need to find a different method of hanging the wool to dry.