Nerd Wars Update!

So we are only 3 days in and I have one project finished (Elvish Leaves Dishcloth), yarn dyed, & beads sorted. I am feeling pretty good about Nerd Wars this time around. A bit nervous about the beading and the colorwork and the dolls, but I think it is all doable if I continue to stay this organized.

Tuesday, while finishing up the dish cloth I decided I would go ahead and start working on dyeing my yarn. Dyeing is a long process, but not one of those processes that requires you attention for the entire process. So I pulled out the lovely sock yarn blank that Francesca had sent me (90% British Wool, 10% Nylon) and stuck it in a bowl with 1 cup of vinegar & 3 cups of water. I then added 1 cup of vinegar and 4 cups of water to the crockpot and turned it on high. It took about 2 hours before I could see steam just starting to form in the crockpot. I knew it was time. I then heated (remember, heated not boiled) up some water on the stove...I would say about 4 cups. I heated this water so that I would have something to dissolve my Wilton's Food colorings in. I pulled out 4 plastic cups & four bamboo skewers. The four colors I chose for this particular dyeing session were: Kelly green, royal blue, sky blue, & teal. I was trying to go for a waterfall look. Inspired by this photo:

Basically, various shades of blues and greens. So where were we...oh yes, I had dissolved the dye in the cups and then I moved the yarn from it's vinegar bowl into the crockpot. Well, then I just began pouring in the dye, little bits at a time. I waited until the dye had exhausted (water was clear) I think flipped the yarn over and repeated. I continued in this manner until most of the yarn was colored. I wanted to keep a few white bits. I took the yarn out, rinsed it, & then put it in the washer on the spin cycle (how nice this was...my first time dyeing yarn since moving into a place with a washer/dryer hook-up). I then took my yarn out of the washer and to my horror it was a GIANT TANGLED MESS!! So I spent the better part of yesterday untangling the yarn and sorting my beads. I am excited to go home and actually cast on this scarf after 2 days of preparation!