I think about posting nearly every day.  I really do.  And then before I know it, the day is gone and I've not posted anything........grr.  Anyway, I've been getting back into my dye buckets in the past week.  I discovered that I can do my final rinsing in the washing machine just fine, which is very exciting!  This means I don't have to stand outside with a couple buckets and a hose, rinsing and draining.  Now that I found this out I want to dye a new set of towels every day!  There are SO many colors to pick from.  The Rit website alone has 500 recipes, all of which could be varied just a little to make even more colors!  I feel like a kid set free in a candy shop!  So many colors, so little time.....=)  But back to my dyeing.  First I did a new red.  It is nearing Valentine's Day after all.  It turned out lovely---a really nice Valentine Red made by mixing scarlet and wine (the dye, not the drink!).  I've already painted one up...but I'm not going to show it to you yet.  Yes, I'm mean like that!  I want to get it up in the store first (hopefully tomorrow).  After the red, came the blue..........oh dear.  The color I tried was Color # 211 in the Rit "cookbook".  Just a splash of royal blue in the water.  The towels came out a beautiful ice blue color.  I know, you're thinking "And where's the problem?  She doesn't like ice blue?"  The problem started with two white towels.  I was ironing a white towel to paint on, but in the ironing my iron decided to start spitting.  It has these fits now and then and I usually pay them no mind.  What's a little water on cloth.  This time though, the "iron saliva" was just a little brown---on my white towel!!!!  Grr.  So I put that one aside and picked up another.  Got it ironed part way and......you guessed it, another episode of brown iron spit!  GRRR.  I can't sell them like that, so I sprayed some spot remover on them and set them aside, figuring I would dye those ones and see if the dye would hide the slight brown stain.  I washed the stained towels with several other good ones and put the whole bunch in the blue dye.  When I went to take them out for rinsing however, I saw, to my dismay, that the places I had sprayed with the stain remover had dyed as a stain!  What on earth?!!  I thought 'Well, maybe if I dye them darker'........ So back into the pot they went, along with a bit more dye.  The result?  A darker towel with  a darker stain!  For some reason, that stain remover didn't wash out or left some kind of residue on the fabric that absorbed the dye differently.  Aaagh!  So needless to say, I have two gorgeous blue towels that are useful to me only for practice and my own kitchen!  Again I say, Grr.  As if this weren't discouraging enough, I carelessly threw the dark and light freshly dyed towels (read dye still wet!) into the washer together to rinse........ Now I have 2 stained towels and 3 slightly mottled towels.....Oh me!  I think, though, that when the lighter towels are pressed they will be ok.  They will have a slightly marbled appearance, but at least it's even and not a glaring round spot like the other 2!  Maybe people will think I did them that way on purpose........=)  One can always hope, right?  The good that came from this is that I have 2 new recipes for colors I like.  I guess one has to be thankful for the little things....... I am itching to dye more, and I've been inspired with a new idea to try.  But I'm not going to tell you now.  Oh quit whining!  Let me try it first and see if/how it works.  Then I'll tell you.  But now it's chocolate chip cookie time......=)