Dyeing Day!

I got 350 yds of a wool/nylon blend sportweight yarn I recycled from a sweater dyed today. I didn't squish the dye around quite enough and I have soem white spots, but not too many. I used Cushings silver grey green, blue, green and maroon and steamed it in a roasting pan in the oven on 150 degrees for about an hour. The skein I laid on the very top has colors that are a little more vibrant than the other 2 bottom skeins. The top picture shows the yarn soaking before I squeezed the water out and poured on the dye; the next pic is the yarn with the dye on, ready to go in the oven, then there are the drying skeins on the line, and 2 of the finished skeins after they have dried.
We went fishing yesterday, and while the lake by Chris and Richards has sucked pretty much this year, it came back with a vengeance for John. We decided to stop there before we picked Chris up because we hadn't been there in awhile and John caught this 17 inch fat guy on a pumpkinseed plastic worm. We picked Chris up and went to Hidden Lake, and then back to Chris' pond, but there were no other fish caught the rest of the day.

Spinning and Other Stuff

Siobhan came home Friday and spent the night here, and then we went to Mom's and baked, knitted and spun. I got a nice drop whorl spindle at Wool and Co. in Geneva a few weeks ago. It is much nicer and easier to use than the smaller bottom whorl spindle I have. Since I had 8 ounces of merino that I had cleaned and carded I have been working on spinning that up. I have most of it done now. I also have 8 ounces of wool that Sio got me from a lady who raises sheep in Newfoundland. I carded just a bit and spun it up, too, and it's very nice. I might dye the merino, I haven't decided yet.

I finished the shawl I had been working on for the last couple of weeks and got Sio to model it for me. This was a really easy pattern from the Lion Brand site, and the yarn was a wool/mohair/acrylic blend called Rainbow Wool from yarn Bee that I got at Hobby Lobby. I really liked the pattern, although it got a little pricey since the wool was $6 a ball, and I needed 4. It actually could use another repeat of the pattern to make it a little longer but I bought all the yarn in that dye lot that Hobby lobby ahd and I don't know if they orderd more or if it will be the same dye lot.

I baked bread and Sio made toutons and a cake, and brought her laundry home to be done. She was going to drive her car back to school with her but decided to do it next week instead. It's really not far, just over 50 miles. There is a train to Elburn, too, and she could drive to the station; leave her car, and come home just for the day if she wanted to, or I could take the train out there. There is a yarn shop in downtown DeKalb that I haven't been to yet and it will be fun to go there. I do miss her, and it's nice to know she isn't very far away.

Where has summer gone?

I know I haven't blogged in a long time, but it sure doesn't seem like it's been two months! The summer went so quick!
There are tons of things that have happened; the biggest being Siobhan's enrollment at Northern Illinois University. We drove her down last week, and she started classes this past Monday. She left me with 3 rabbits and 3 guinea pigs to take care. It isn't that far, just over an hours drive, and it's been ok so far. I really missed her yesterday evening though. I've gotten used to her sitting outside and talking while we both work on projects. We are going out there Saturday though, hopefully to bring her bike to her and get mine back. She's majoring in ceramics with some sort of minor in fiber arts. She seems to be really excited about her classes and I'm glad; she is so very talented.
The fishing has been pretty good all summer, mostly because it's been coolish. I caught my biggest bass at Hidden Lake two evenings ago; it was a solid 19 inches and I bet it weighed 5 lbs but I forgot to bring the camera with. Chris caught one there a couple of weeks ago and we didn't have the camera then, either. John caught a big one in that same spot, too. Blackwell was pretty good for awhile but it's slacked off. As the fall weather moves in we'll probably try there again. I also caught my first small mouth ever in the Fox River, which was also pretty cool.
I have made a ton of crocheted projects, scarves and hats and fingerless gloves getting ready for a craft show the end of October. Most of them are in my Etsy store so I won't post pics of them. I also started a knitted scarf in a feather and fan pattern and it's looking very nice I must say. It's really easy and since I'm not a great knitter easy works for me.
I am hoping to get a dye run in the next day or so; I have some recycled yarn I want to play around with. I'm in love with Noro's colorways (who isn't) and while I don't think I will ever be able to do it was well as they do maybe I can get some nice results. I will definitley be posting pics of that when I get it done. It's rainy today and supposed to be tomorrow, but maybe it will hold up enough to do a bit of dyeing.