PROBLEM SOLVED

Thanks to everyone who commented or emailed me about my sock problem.... that was a major 'duh' on my part. All I had to do was change colors *after* the short-row heel shaping and *before* I picked up the stitches along the side of the heel flap. Instead, I assumed that in order for the heel to look good in a contrasting color, I had to keep that color until all the decreases were done -- which created the mess I ended up with! Anyway, I'm almost back to where I frogged and 'hopefully' still on track to finish these Olympic socks before ... what is it? 5 a.m. PST Sunday?

Meanwhile, it's been a busy day at the Wind Walker. We are trying to get ready to leave on our annual holiday -- we have all of September off, and we'll be cruising the Gulf Islands for every minute of it (but some of you didn't want to hear that, I bet)! So 'getting ready' means making sure the boat is (literally) ship-shape and the marina is in order -- and, for me, it means knowing what knitting projects I'll be working on while we're away. :-)

My current interest in spinning and dyeing made me remember that I've had an 'odd' thrift store acquisition in my stash for a few years, so I decided to dig it out and take a closer look. Here ... you can too:

This mess is a LOT of hand-spun un-dyed mystery fibre wrapped around a stick that I purchased for $2. I took a strand out this morning and did the bleach test -- it's not wool. I'm pretty sure it's alpaca -- it's been washed and spun, but there's quite a bit of vegetation matter in it still. I re-wound it and picked lots of bits out as I went -- it took me two hours this morning, but the result is three huge balls of lovely fibre:

Not sure whether I'll dye it or leave it natural, or what I'll knit with it -- but it's coming on holidays with me for sure.

Today was a day off from taking care of the boys, and it was pouring rain for most of the day, so Michael and I were both sorting, tidying, cleaning and re-arranging for most of the day. But the sun came out around 4 pm, and it was time for a break, so off I went to Clover Point, with the Olympic socks in my basket. Got there just in time to see this...

(You can click the pic to make it bigger, so you can really see that lovely rainbow!)

And I'll have pics of those socks and my over-dyed skein of wool tomorrow...