just in time

The scarf I've been knitting forever is finally done (yay!) In my defense, it was my first full-length knitting project unless you count the birthday card I made a few months ago. It took me about halfway through the scarf to really become comfortable with knitting. I wanted to knit a matching hat, but I'm not sure if this yarn is that good for that (and I can't find this color anywhere. Every other color imaginable in this yarn, sure, but no more green.)

Now that I'm finished with this simple project I think I'm ready to tackle something different. Apparently I have good timing. My Dad offered to buy me some Alpaca yarn while on a recent trip to Peru. I was excited about his offer and asked for a skein or two in blue or other bright colors. So when he emailed and told me he'd found some yarn, I imagined a few skeins the size of what I find at the yarn stores. Well, I was mistaken:







That, my friends, is a kilo of blue yarn. There seems to be a half-kilo of red and quarter-kilo of green. I was speechless. The yarn itself is really soft and well spun. I'm still not sure what to do with it all. But at least I know I won't be shopping for yarn anytime soon. As a second surprise, and fearing I wouldn't like these colors, my Dad also brought me back different dyes the Peruvians use to tint their yarn. These I'm really not sure what to do with, but the colors are vibrant. I'll have to put in some research time to figure out exactly how to dye yarn correctly (and colorfast-ly.) Suggestions, anyone?