Where has the time gone?

Just saw that it has been over 6 weeks since I posted, so here I am again.  I have lots of things on my needles right now. I just finished and sent off to my friend in Florida another Summerflies shawl, this one bigger than the one I did for myself.   I have been doing the knitpurlhunter KAL Independence pillow.  I also have a pair of 2-at-a-time toe-up socks on the needle to try the Fleegle heel.  Just about ready for the heel, so I'll let you know.  I also started another Ashton shawl (my 5th) in worsted weight black sequined yarn for my daughter Liz.  I have been knitting more Puerperium sets (see previous post) for more friends with babies or grandbabies on the way or just arrived. I also have a Garn studio top-down sweater/smock for myself, that I get too bored to do for very long: about 250 stitches per row in garter stitch -- man, that's mind-numbing!  But it's so much better than the about 400 stitches it was before I put the sleeves on waste yarn!

I am here today to report on my newest spinning try.  This time I separated 12 ounces of raw undyed fiber (Colonial sheep) into three 4-oz batches.  I dyed two of the batches in sapphire, and the third batch in a higher concentration of the same dye.  After this adventure, I have decided John and I need to build our garage in Colorado with the apartment above it, so that I have a dyeing studio.  John hates the smell of hot wool, and the mess it can make is stupendous!  I won't be able to do much dyeing in the house, so I'd better have someplace to do it all.  So I spun the three batches of wool and plied them together, and this is the result:

The lighter patches are from the light coming through the trees, but the color is a pretty close match.  I'm pleased with it.  I got about 400 yards of 11-12 wraps per inch yarn.  Hopefully it will yield enough yarn to make a substantial item for me.

Gerri:  Since you're the only person who follows my blog, I should let you know.  The Hot August Knits yarn crawl starts next week, and I'm planning to get registered for the grand prize, which means visiting (and buying at) all 9 shops.  The participating shops are in Cheyenne and Laramie, Wyoming, and in Fort Collins and Estes Park Colorado.  I thought of you when I saw the newest participant in the crawl:  The Loopy Ewe!  I'm planning to make my first visit there in a couple of weeks.  I hope there's some money in my bank account when I leave!