Friday Dyeday and other new stuff

I'm not going to start off by saying I've been crazy busy - because that's pretty evident - so I'll just move right on to all the stuff I've been up to!
I've tried to get in the habit, after ordering a big box of bare yarn, of dyeing on Fridays (hence the title); if you've been following my Instagram, you've seen some of the results of this! My first dye day was a little off the mark of accuracy but I still love the products so I'm not too salty about it.

Today went even better: I had some colours in mind and managed to get pretty close to what I wanted. My main hurdle right now is that pot dyeing will never produce results quite the same as hotel pan dyeing (those big long rectangular pans), just because you don't have the same angle. That's not to say one is necessarily *better*, just that they're different. One of the things I'm having trouble with right now is consistency of colour coverage, but my colourways lately have worked in whites or light spots so it's not dire. It is something I'll have to keep an eye on though. I also dyed up the last of my worsted weight plain wool that I brought over from the UK and I was surprised (and also not hugely surprised) at the difference in colour uptake between that and some chunky superwash merino I did at the same time. Here's the blue-grey I did up; I had stormy skies in mind when I dyed it and today the sky was a very similar combo, so I feel like I got pretty close :) EDIT: The first shot is the worsted and the second shot is the chunky (I thought I'd taken shots of the two side-by-side but I think my camera died before that).

Other than my dye days, I've been working on getting some patterns ready for publication, here and there. Focus is one of my goals for the year, and I'll certainly need it! Lots to think about. That being said, I'll have a pattern ready to show you all by the end of next week, so watch this space!
We're also working on lots of farm things (of course); we have piggies now, we're looking at lots of other animals to add to the family, and my husband and father in-law installed some lumber racks in the woodshop so we're closer to actually reaching the lathes and tools again - that place is pure chaos so it'll be excellent when it's all tidied up! A good winter job for sure, and I'm really excited to get in there and start turning some of the hawthorn I've been clearing here on the homestead.

Last but not least, my extracurricular work (read: other people's patterns). I might have to finally face facts that although my gauge is loose, it's not loose enough for me to lie to myself and knit up the smallest size of sweaters anymore. I bound off my Camaro (a lovely Tanis a Arts pattern) and it's ridiculous. I can get it on, but it's an embarrassing piece of work; I'm sure blocking won't be THAT generous. I'll have to frog the whole thing, which is deeply disappointing, but I'm not going to forget this lesson any time soon. I also wound up some LottieKnits and Fyberspates to do a Keady wrap by Ambah O'Brien for the KAL going on in her Ravelry forum; I'm a little behind because I'm also working on a million other things (as it seems, anyway), but I love the colours together and I can't wait to put in some more time on this wrap! And last but not least, I'm almost finished the curling sweater commission (onto the back, at long last) and although it's been a bit troublesome with bad charts, I love how it's coming together and I can't wait to get it all together and see it finished!
Phew - and it's only half way through January! Just wait for the rest of the month ;)

I'll leave you with Pepper, perpetually surprised, and Juniper, perpetually salty.