Bonus

While I'm plotting and planning to kick the dye pots into high gear, I've been savoring the last couple days of relative peace and quiet.  Now that my office is organized - or as organized as it gets - I decided to tackle my knitting tools.  I have bins, boxes and bags full of all sorts of knitting-related gadgets. Often I can't find what I need when I need it, so clearly I need a better system.  

For starters my knitting needles are a jumble.  I still haven't come up with a system for keeping them neat and tidy, but after seeing someone at knit night roll out her needles in one little bundle I'm inspired to come up with something.  Knitting needle storage is a project in progress, and the solution just might involve the sewing machine.

The upside to all this sifting and sorting is that I uncovered a couple of tools I had forgotten I owned.  It's encouraging to get a small bonus for all my efforts.

For example, I had tucked away this knitting bowl from Sue Henshaw Pottery.

I received this last year as a gift but put it away - probably because I didn't want it to break.  I have sad tales of many special coffee mugs that have come and gone. 

The back side has a little pouch for small things - scissors, darning needles, tape measure.

I had to put this lovely bowl to use.

After all, it's too pretty to leave in a closet.  I'm sending out positive energy that this bowl won't suffer the same fate as my special coffee mugs.

The other exciting find was these fancy stitch markers.

I don't know where they came from - maybe a Yankee swap.

Normally I use plain old plastic stitch markers, but these stitch markers couldn't have surfaced at a better time.  I seem to have lost all of my smaller plastic ring stitch markers.  Sometimes I think they just evaporate.  They will probably reappear one day, but in the meantime I'll enjoy these.

In contrast to the dark and gray of winter my color inspiration this week is bright and bold.

A reminder of the sun.