"To Knit With!"

When I first started dyeing yarn, about two years ago, it was on a whim. I was just playing with old wool yarn and Kool-Aid. It was fun and creative and I enjoyed it. I have since graduated to more sophisticated techniques, yarns, and dyes. I've surrounded myself with a small group of other talented individuals who also love to dye fibers and who are an inspiration to me. You know them as The Usual Suspects. We've gotten together probably a half dozen times to dye together, with each of us dyeing 400 to 600 grams of mostly sock weight yarn each time. That's a lot of yarn. My husband looks at it all the time and asks "What is it for?" My answer has usually been "I'm not sure." I've gifted some to other knitters. I've pushed some on some unlucky recipients. The failed attempt at black, silver, and green comes to mind and the lucky child who thought it looked like camouflage - not the look I was going for! But mostly it's been accumulating in the yarn room - waiting.

Until yesterday. These could be the fastest socks I ever knit. I love that even though I only used three colors when I dyed this yarn, there are hundreds of colors in the strands as I knit with it. I love that I picked the colors because I liked them - no other reason than that! I love that there will never, ever be a pair of socks just like these anywhere in the world because of the uniqueness of this yarn that I dyed. Every stitch makes me happy because I can't wait to see which of the little color variations pops up on the needle. I love that I can now answer the question "What is all that yarn for?"

"To knit with - duh!!"