a forced break

I've had these itchy patches on two of my fingers for several days. I chalked it up to oddly located mosquito bites, since I've been bitten a lot lately.

This morning I woke up with blisters on the patches. Dr. Google says that it's likely irritant contact dermatitis. I threw out my dyeing gloves, will pick up some disposable latex-free ones just in case I'm developing a latex allergy, and I'm planning to take a couple of days off from handpainting.

This is just rotten timing in a lot of ways, of course. Sock Summit is three weeks away, and just last night I developed two colorways that I really like and I'd sure like to dye more of. I have non-handpainting stuff I can do, like revising my logo, getting collateral printed up, skeining yarn off cones, reskeining ... but jeez. I have Wed and Thu lined up for all-day dyeing, so I really need to be fully operational by then.

I'm also panicking a little bit that I don't have enough yarn to dye. It feels hard to believe, given all the boxes strewn about the house, but unless I'm totally forgetting about something, I am getting down to the bottom of my stash. Three base yarns that I was expecting to use are either out of stock or still in development, so that's part of the problem. Oh well, I can only do what I can do at this point. It's still going to be fun and a great experience. Right?