how quickly we forget

Tonight I dyed yarn for the first time since Sock Summit. It's only been two weeks, yet I'd forgotten two of the basics:

1) Always tie your yarn in a few places before you put it in the dyepot. I have no idea how I managed to forget, but I was skeining yarn off cones this afternoon and forgot to tie up one of the skeins . Took it out of the spin dryer and it fell apart, of course. Luckily it was only an ounce of worsted yarn, so it didn't take me too long to untangle it, but how on earth did I manage to take it off my yarn winder without tying up at least the loose ends?

2) When you peek into your dyepot, don't forget that steam is hot. I scalded my forearm with that initial gush of steam after I lifted the lid. It still hurts, though not as much as my pride.

The dyeing itself went well, I think. It's intended to be a Queen of Hearts colorway for an upcoming Alice in Wonderland theme at Venus Vanguard. It will cool in the pot overnight, so we'll see tomorrow how it turned out.