I just want to dye. Really. I could do this all day and all night, except for the, you know, family and house and all that stuff that needs taking care of.

Serious dyeing binge today:

Did do a little sewing, making a sock bag and a taller version to hold my spindle. To hide my spindle, because all it does is mock me.

Then at night, I knit. Still working on this sundress:

and this…this is a bag that will be felted. I’m doing it from the top down with vague ideas of a rounded bottom and drawstring closure. We’ll see what happens. This dyed yarn is doing some interesting patterning, in my ever so humble opinion. I like it, anyway.

Last is this tank top, I think I agreed to do a tank top knitalong somewhere. I really like the ribbon yarn and the colors, it just seems to be taking forever to knit this.

Ok, we officially have a dyeing addiction. More on that in a second. Here is the beginning of my daughter’s sundress, done with the rainbow colored cotton. It’s not a really big swatch yet, but I’m pleased so far. There are big pools of the deep turquoise, with the other colors kind of striping in and out.

And now, I am going to stop knitting for the night and go back to practicing my bad words on the drop spindle. Because I must learn to spin. Because I dyed that roving yesterday and it was the most fun thing ever.

It is actually bothering me right now that there is no fiber in the house that needs dyeing. I plan to deal with that situation in the morning.

So that’s why they call it a drop spindle. Was playing with my new toy off and on this afternoon and dropping it is all I accomplished. I may have to seek out local assistance on this one.

Meanwhile, there is dyeing fun to be had. I love the rainbow cotton even more now that it is wound into balls. Hopefully it will knit up in a way that doesn’t break my heart.

The green stuff still looks nice I guess, and is still completely not what I had in mind.

Put some new stitch markers on eBay, including small ones for sock knitters and these giant things for those of you who enjoy waving pointy baseball bats in the air.

Now it is way past my knitting time. Goodnight.

Picture time again. I did start a bag with my handpainted purple/green/blue stuff, but it is only a few rows tall so we’ll wait on that pic for a bit.

I am officially addicted to dyeing. This rainbow cotton came out so fabulous. To me, that is.

Then I tried to do a lovely turquoise, green, and yellow thing with this fisherman’s wool. My plastic wrap completely failed me, but I still kind of like the way it came out.

I have a feeling the innocent little roving lurking in my wool bin will be victimized tomorrow. Why? Because the moment has come, in the form of this lovely birthday present.

Look at that custom spindle. I love it. Love it. Hopefully one day I can figure out how to use it.

She also sent me all this delicous sock yarn. Oh how I love sock yarn.

I’ve got some new beads and charms and plan to put a few sets of stitch markers on ebay tomorrow night. I also picked up some really bright colored remnants to make bags out of – I’m getting all wild about colors in my old age, go figure.

I’m tired, let’s just look at some pictures today, ok? Great.

The purple sundress is finished except for the buttons, because I just got them today and don’t feel like sewing on buttons at the moment. Also? When I grabbed the purple cotton-ease out of my stash to make this, dye lots never crossed my mind. Every other color of cotton-ease I have is in bagged lots that match. So now I have this dress that is one purple on the front, and a slightly different purple on the back. I need to show it to some normal people and see if it still looks all right. First I should try to meet some normal people, I guess.

I am going ahead and making a little matching diaper cover for the dress, maybe when the entire ensemble comes together it won’t bug me so much. Maybe.

Trying to put the whole thing out of my mind for a bit, I dug through the craft pit and came up with this tie-dye kit I had, containing some bright fuschia, turquoise, and yellow dyes. The package claims this particular dye works best on all natural fabrics, like cotton. A cone of cotton yarn and the swift came out, and an hour or so later I had this thing on my counter:

I’m scared to rinse it out, it looks so pretty. I have visions of little sundresses and floppy hats for my daughter when I look at it.

Now prepare to be jealous, I got these in the mail from a dear friend today. Six Amy Butler patterns for the coolest bags and totes and and and I can’t decide which to try first.

I’ve run into major knitter’s block. Both my socks and the sundress are at a point in the pattern where I am terrifed to move forward and mess them up. The socks will require some time without kids or husband around so I can do the heels – who knows when that might be. The dress, I need to sit down and write out the last bit of the pattern so it makes sense to me as I knit. It makes sense when I read it, but not to follow as I knit.

Anyway, that’s my story for not getting anything done lately. But for my birthday I got a ball winder and swift. Yay! Since I’ve had it almost a whole day, obviously I am qualified to offer these expert tips:

1. Do buy one of these gorgeous handmade swifts from the Oregon Woodworker. I got the Mama Bear. Their customer service is amazing an I just want to sit and play with my new swift all day.

2. Do wind up some handpainted yarn with your first ball, so that you can say ooh, ahh at your color work and not notice the little imperfections in the ball itself.

3. Don’t let the left-handed 6 year old and the right-handed 5 year old take turns winding. One winder per project. Agh.

Now, I am going to figure out that sundress pattern so I can finish it tonight. I have started the one in the round, and it is going great, but the guilt of not finishing the first one makes me leave that entire project bag untouched.

I did it, I made one of the sock bags all by myself. This isn’t going to be good for my already dangerous addiction to the fabric remnant bins.

Trek makes these beautifully, she also has some instructions on her site. If you don’t sew, I highly recommend swapping with her.

Nothing else exciting to report today. Just knitting along on the sundresses and socks, and anxiously awaiting my swift and ball winder.

Still knitting slowly. Stupid, stupid hands. So today let’s look at some blanket prints. I made this one for myself, because it has the knitting going on, and it is pink, and if this isn’t safe from those thieving males who live here, nothing is.

Then I made this one, because the print is so cute I can’t stand it. I have a bit of a sock monkey fetish.

The sock bag from trekarrived today, it is wonderful and I need many, many of them.

So, too much purling in my weird, backwards, self-taught knitting method and my hand is killing me. So I played with some beads and made some stitch markers for the wee needles (under size 4) and for the giant needles. The largest needles I own are size 15, so I don’t exactly know what the large ones would fit. I sent them to some big needle knitters to test.

Spent most of the day sewing blankets, and this evening I ordered…ready? A swift and ball winder. I’m giddy with anticipation.

Look, I’m trying that focus thing again. I got the back of the sundress finished, and am almost to the armhole shaping of the front. My wrist is not so happy about all the purling, so the next one I’m going to try doing in the round.

The fabric needle cases have returned home, now to photograph them and put them in the shop.

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