return of the dye muse

drying fiber
i was able to resurrect my dye studio from the disarray into which it had fallen during the last few months.  unbelievable the amount of dog hair, dirt, piles of miscellaneous unrelated stuff that had accumulated on the counters and floor.  the exit path for the dogs to get to their yard goes directly through my studio, so their hair, muddy feet and outdoor debris adds up to a mess.  and then there were the cups and jars of dyes that had been sitting there unused since early sept. and had become dehydrated and/or a thick, jelled glop.  amazing what some boiling water will do.  i always do a few "test pieces" to check for the fastness of dyes after reconstituting them and am delighted that they react with the fiber just as they did 3 months ago.  don't throw away those gloppy, neglected dyes, i tell ya. 

pouring color on white fiber

i needed bright color in my fiber life!  going thru my yarn stash and spinning fibers, i found not a lot of bright.  there's some in the current knitting project (the poppy sweater), but that's all dedicated.  so there's some fiber and yarn with attitude comin' up.  and i do need that to ward off the cloudy, gray winter day goblins of gloomy.  also, have on the dyeing agenda, a bunch of that sock yarn with the silver, and plan some sexy black, magenta, bright violet, turquoise for that... plus other bright combinations!  hmmm, bright seems to be the operative word here.