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I am on leave this week, and have been spending my time well!

First, here is a pair of Monkey socks:

The yarn is Merino Cashmere Sock from The Knittery. Here’s a closer Monkey so you can see the curvy pattern a bit better:

I love this pattern. I can see why it’s been so popular online; it’s extremely quick and easy to memorise. Once you get into the flow, it almost knits itself and all you have to worry about are heel flaps, heel turns and shaping

My other project during this time of rest has been dyeing.
A while ago, I bought some undyed merino cashmere from The Knittery. I’ve wanted to make my own self-striping yarn for some time. Some US friends were kind enough to send me some Kool-Aid, so I could join the Kool-Aid dyeing frenzy. Here is the journey…

First, you take one skein of innocent virgin yarn:

And you stretch it out into one really long loop:

and soak it in plain water for a while. Next, take some strange bright neon powder which I’m told some people actually drink:

Mix it all up in a saucepan with some water. Soak one section of yarn in it, and dump the rest in another saucepan to bide its time:

Simmer gently until all the dye is soaked into the yarn and there is none in the water:

Then repeat with another saucepan and a different colour:

Rinse and repeat. Just as well you have three saucepans!

Finally, give it all a gentle warm bath to rinse:

And here’s the finished product, knitting up!

The purple is two packets of grape Kool-Aid. The green is two packets of lemon-lime with a hefty dollop of tamarindo to tone down the colour, and the red is two packets of black cherry and one of cherry.

Finally, here’s the latest addition to the stash:

Courtesy of my latest crack dealer vendor, Astrid’s Dutch Obsessions, these are: top row, L-R: Meilenweit Multiringel; Opal, one of the limited “try-outs”; Trekking Pro Natura, which is wool and bamboo fibre. Bottom yarn is Regia Bamboo. The Trekking and Regia are my first bamboo yarns; at first touch, they are extremely soft and light, and the bamboo is very silky. I’m really looking forward to trying them out!