Wednesday, January 24, 2007

What I did today.

Other than write snarky Vogue Knitting revies.

I didn't knit (yet), though I have plans to start knitting in a couple minutes and maybe do a whole pattern repeat on the sleeve for the steeked jacket - it's finally cold here and I want to finish it in time to wear it this winter.

What DID I do?

Dye yarn.

See the unholy number of colors coming out of that dye pot? The term for that is 'broken' dye. And that's why Purple Train Wreck is named what it is. All the uneven purples and even the aqua color are all done with one dye that is chemically unstable. (Well, it's a food color, I bet it works fine on icing. I should complain to the company anyway. Ha.) I did two skeins. One is spoken for, but the rest of you can squabble over the other one.



I also reeled up some yarn I dyed yesterday:

On the left, the yarn that was in the dye pot yesterday when I took the photo that I posted. Tomorrow I'm going to try to repeat it on some laceweight. On the right, an experiment in green gone horribly wrong, now scattered with random blobs of lavender, light blue, and gray and white bits where none of the dye stuck. (The husbeast said "That's kind of nice" while I was winding it up, and I asked him if he was sure he'd passed all his colorblindness tests.)

I now have dishpan hands, and another full day with the dyepot tomorrow. I'm kind of getting the hang of this. I'm looking into buying some different food colorants to try out. Mwahahaha.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh... the purple colors are gorgeous!! I'd love to get my claws on the second skein... I like the other ones too, especially the green (maybe it's the purple - looove purple!). Great job!

Christine Olea said...

I think the green is great! I could knit it up into something fabulous so you could see what it looked like in it's finished form...

Bells said...

I like the green too. Maybe the husbeast and I have similar taste???

See because you've got a white crock pot, the photos look so appealing. I bet if I too photos with my black crock pot, it wouldn't look the same.

April said...

"On the right, an experiment in green gone horribly wrong ..."

So who's going to be handling the "Sales" end of your Etsy shop?

One man's something or other is another man's something or other.

Julie said...

I figure, let the product sell itself. I'm considering an Esty page for experiments called "Really Ugly Yarn". A lot of people would probably cruise the page for just that reason.

Amy Lane said...

I like the green and purple stuff--it looks like iris fields. (Sorry I snorfled your meme btw--I had no idea you were supposed to tag people for those...I promise never to snorfle a meme again...)

Sarah O G said...

I so want the GREEN!!!! It's gorgeous. ***Drooool***

Louiz said...

If no one else has already claimed the purple, I'll have it!

Anonymous said...

Julie,
I think you're selling yourself short on your dying colors. I think both skeins look great! You're motivating me to want to try dying for myself, but with four cats, two dogs, two kids and a hubbie, I'd end up with hairy, tangled messes.
Aven

Rae said...

I actually like the green a lot. It's really nice (in the picture). I wonder how the colors would work knit up.

Rae said...

WAIT, what did Amy say? Snorfle the meme?

I wasn't tagged. I guess I snorfled yours and then Amy's snorfled meme. I'm a double-snorfler.

Where is Dr. Seuss when you need him?!

debsnm said...

So who got the first purple? You're obviously going to have to do the green again, 'cause I want one, too. And does anyone actually knit projects with the yarn "suggested" in the directions? I so rarely follow the recipe precisely that it's an event when I do. I never use the yarn suggested, mostly because it's usually WAY out of my price range, and there's almost always a perfectly good (much cheaper) substitute. (That last is for the camel-yarn coat from VK)

Julie said...

Meme snorfling is an oddity in the wild kingdom...


I can't say who is getting the first purple skein. It's a surprise. And lucky for you guys (and me even more), I write down all the dye jobs I do, even the mistakes. So I can replicate the green.

Catie said...

I think all of them are nice and yummy. I can't wait, I've never bought yarn online.

Anonymous said...

Sooo,
The green mistake, I LOVE it. greens offset by purple wonderful.
Unlike most folks I was soso about the purple but this green one I would buy

JessZ said...

That purple train wreck is great. Are you sticking with food coloring for the baby's sake?

فرانسيس said...

I dig the green!

cheekiemary said...

I agree with the husbeast - the green is really nice - I likeee a lotee.