Weekend Ramblings

Despite gorgeous weather and nothing pressing that HAD to get done, I found myself floundering around yesterday. The sight of that scrambled cotton yarn hanging from the dyeing rack was driving me crazy. So I set about to finish detangling and reskeining the yarn. I have a better understanding of white lung disease now! The dyeing and washing process really loosened up the cotton and what usually came out in the washing machine and dryer after weaving was flying around the room. And of course my posture left much to be desired during these marathon sessions. The worst one took me 1.5 hours, most were under an hour. The skeins and small balls on the right are really a deeper violet than the one on the left, but the bright sun coming in through the window (and probably the gold curtains) affected the colors a bit.

Then my fool Audible player just stopped! It's not the batteries, although I tried to make sure. The computer can recognize it and see how much is on the card, but everytime I turn it on it lights up for about 3 seconds and then turns off. Luckily I only had one skein left so Law and Order SVU got me through it. The player is only 2 months old, so I'll have to give them a try on Monday and see what they'll do.

That's 4800 yards. After winding it off from my clock reel to my Louet skeiner and back (for a couple I just kept it at the 54" skeins) my shoulder and arm feel like I was throwing a shut put. We won't even discuss my lower back from leaning over and untangling. I put the reel on a table for a little change - don't know if it did much good.



I was looking over the enormous stash of 4 oz or less balls and decided to make a small fulled bag for taking my lunch. I just started knitting, I mean it's a bag, but I did use the flat bottom idea from the Booga Bag (34 stitches in garter stitch for 34 rows, then pick up around the other three edges) and I like the handles from the Fibertrends tote rather than i-cord. Since this picture I've gone back to the gold for the top border. About half way through I changed to garter stitch and then went back and forth to create a vertical opening for about an inch. I think I'll put a strip of plastic wrap through it to make sure it doesn't full shut. I haven't decided on a button or i-cord for the closure. Now for the handles and it's ready for the machine.

During my skeining breaks I put soaked some grey roving and tried a new to me dyeing technique - Sara Lamb's Crockpot Dyeing from the Spring 2002 Spin Off - in my 16 qt. oven roaster. Going down now to check the results.