For not having dyed in a while, I certainly jumped back in feet first. The ones up above there are my Malabrigo yarns. A friend and I are putting together some Malabrigo sets with matching stitch markers to put in my store, and I’ll be sending some little samples off to the Phat Fiber Boxes for April’s distribution. Lots of fun!
But, besides those, I went through a whole stack of yarns this time around. In fact, I felt like the Brave Little Tailor in one of my favorite old fairy tales. Seventeen yarns processed in one morning. (Yes, but don’t mention that I dyed less than half of those that round. The rest were twist-setting and dye-testing.) Still, I don’t think I’ve done that big of a batch since last year.
I’ve got some lovely laceweight, and a gorgeous set of bulky skeins, plus some odds and ends of other things. I was rather pleasantly surprised at how many I was able to do, what with being out of practice. The last thing I wanted to do was get halfway in and have an energy crash. When yarns are on the stove, there is no way to stop without risking the loss of the yarn. And, by extenuation, sanity.
Here’s the laceweight I dyed. It was supposed to be Dawn Treader, but I got way too much purple in there and came up with these three skeins. As I said before, I have no idea what I’m going to call it—besides gorgeous.
I sure can pick the knitting patterns. The one I finally decided on for my blue cowl is in French. Thankfully it’s a little easier to decipher than those German socks. 
And I’ve got almost an inch and a half done! (Hey, it’s the little victories that count.) Not to mention it’s somewhere in the neighborhood of one hundred and ninety tiny little stitches. And the mohair makes for terrible ripping back. Avoid ripping back this yarn at all costs! Even if it means creating stitches out of nowhere. Which I have done. *cough cough* And need I point out that I had to cast on three times? I have yet to master the long tail cast on in terms of estimating how much tail to use. Thankfully I didn’t get anything twisted.
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Lesson Number One – Don’t stop blogging for any length of time because it becomes increasingly easy to put it off as the mountains of material pile up. Or because of colds. Or because of a busy schedule. But, that will change.
Ahem. I, me, myself, the fiber lover, hereby promise to keep up with blogging. You need to get all over my case if I go more than a week without updating. But, hopefully that will not become necessary.
Alright, now, let me see, what has happened since my last post? When was my last post? Oh goodness, twenty something days ago? That’s three weeks!
Well, to begin with, I finished my socks. As soon as they were done I was promptly assailed with a cold, during which I felt like laying around and knitting dozens of socks . . . but, I had no sock yarn. I now see the positive sides of having a stash, even if it’s a small one. The concept of spinning all your own yarn does not work when you’re too tired to even look at the spinning wheel. I had to grin and bear it, knowing that a visit to a yarn store was in the works.
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But, besides those, I went through a whole stack of yarns this time around. In fact, I felt like the Brave Little Tailor in one of my favorite old fairy tales. Seventeen yarns processed in one morning. (Yes, but don’t mention that I dyed less than half of those that round. The rest were twist-setting and dye-testing.) Still, I don’t think I’ve done that big of a batch since last year. 