Dyeing up a storm

I have been all about blue lately (maybe since there are no blue skies??)

I had a friend call Saturday night and ask if I could dye some yarn as she wants to learn to knit socks--she asked for "smokey blue".
Not being too sure what colour that would be (I know she didn't want pastel or anything bright) I asked some fellow dyers on Ravelry, got some tips and set out to play last night.
I don't do well with hand painting--I always forget to add more dye and end up with a pale, water logged mess.
So--to the pots.

Well--I did get a really good smokey blue but then the colour that I added broke and left it looking rusty. Like accidentally left out in the rain rusty with blue.
So, I over dyed it with Emerald Green and it came out very interesting.


I fiddled around a bit more--didn't like skein number 2 so over-dyed it and it became this:


I finally got it right (I think)..so now I present:



I also finally got a good picture of my Sugar Plum Roving:



and Hero Handspun:


I will be dyeing up some Merino/Tencel tonight--and actually might dye some for myself (shocker) for a knitting project.

I also want to make soap tonight.
I have a book that I bought from the Yarn Pirate and am loving reading about soap making and how you can make it in your kitchen.
There is a caustic ingredient (lye) so I need to do it when the kids are sleeping and use care--but the acids neutralize when the soap is made, so the clean up is not heavy.
The big problem was finding the ingredients in our little town.

The other big problem will be the wait--you have to wait about 4 weeks to "cure" the soap and I'm not very patient. Suprised?

I enjoyed this little you-tube video as well.