Mixed bag

Finally got inspired to have a go at my tie-dye backlog this week. Yesterday with two kids off school and no way I was going out with them (or without them!) for Black Friday shopping, I brought a handful of things to my laundry room and tied 'em up for some practice.

Well.

• The rainbow with black lines for the stained glass effect came out with pale pale gray lines instead. Not at all the effect I was hoping for, but still saleable, even with some dye specks in the purple. It's a nightshirt and it's super-soft and pretty anyway.
• The girl's shirt with the swoops in pink and two shades of purple - one of the swoop lines came out lovely and swoop-y, while the one below it came out more scalloped. No clue how I managed it, but not sure if I can salvage it.
• The girls' shirt that was supposed to be crinkly blue and purple came out crinkly blue and blue - a pretty subtle pattern, but not so pretty that most girls I know of that age would count it among their favorites. It's now soaking in purple and magenta dye in a jar for some new crinkles and some actual purple.
• The pink and brown swirl girls' tee where I was trying to recreate one of my favorite shirts (which I let my kid wear and then it got stained so it's now ours for life LOL) came out streaked, plus the brown has halos of blue around it. A hotter temperature next time should keep the dye from having time to separate out like that before the reaction finishes, but this shirt probably isn't salvageable. :-(
• And the final girls' shirt was to be pink with a purple wedge at the bottom of the front, but it's really smaller than it should be to look good, plus it somehow ended up streaked with orange.

I got a couple other projects started and then shaved off the top of my first joint of my middle finger of my right hand using the mandoline slicer to slice potatoes. I was using it to save the wear and tear on my fingertips from using a knife. Took the bleeding over an hour to stop and I still have to go easy on it or it starts bleeding again. I'm scared half to death about MRSA infections so trying my best to let it heal up but it's in a spot that gets bumped and jiggled a lot. Ow ow ow ow owwwww. This is why hubby is cutting carrot sticks and cuke slices for snack/lunch this weekend. No blades for me for a while.

It's probably good to take a break after only one day of tie-dye bliss though or the children will no doubt be climbing the walls waiting for enough space to be cleared for the holiday decorations to go up: the lights, the Christmas tree, the Yule log, the whole nine yards, a bit at a time - once I get my blanks and clothing racks out of the living room, anyway. It was nice while it lasted, though, and I could easily get used to it. My 8YO advises against getting used to it though, because "You'll just be disappointed." Quite the optimist, that one. Wonder where she gets it? @_@ Of course, she is at the dining table making her button bracelets with no real demands on her time and energy other than that (for the moment at least). :-) Maybe I'll put a couple of those up in the Etsy shop and see how she fares.