so, inspired by one of monkee's recent posts and the feeling that my house has turned into one giantass tangle of random yarn, i decided to buy a yarn winder.  it is the coolest thing ever.  not so much because of its technology... it's really pretty simple... it's mostly cool because it turns wild yarn into neat orderly stout little yarn cakes that can also double as building blocks for those of us that like things that double as other things.  plans for a yarn fortress of knititude are in the works.

along with my ball winder, i got some yarn for dyeing.  it's from knit picks, and it's crazy cheap and way softer than i was expecting for the price.  i got 2 hanks of the plain "wool of the andes" worsted, and one hank of the "color your own" merino fingering weight stuff. i was planning to use the worsted stuff for a felted bag kind of like the orange one i made for a christmas gift, but now that i've fondled the yarn a bit, i'm not sure.  i have even less of an idea what i will make with the merino.

i got a bunch of kool-aid packets to use for dyeing, and i think i understand what i need to do to make it work, but i'm not entirely sure how to go about painting the yarn with the color so it looks good and not lame, so maybe this time around i'll just do solid colors.  black cherry and pink lemonade seem to be the weapons of choice for now.

oh - and i finished the other sock.  they still feel kinda big, but for my first grown-up size socks ever, i think they don't suck.  i'm still diggin the left/right toe thing.