I don't know if it's creativity, a mischievious muse or maybe just pride that makes me look at something that's already wonderful and think, "Yeah, I can do better."
It all started with an idea. Let's have another TwitterKAL. I've had that Susie's Reading Mitts pattern in my queue since the last TwitKAL and 2 skeins of Lavish super-fine alpaca in a gorgeous blood color, sent to me by a fellow knitter in a yarn swap. In preparation for the cast-on date (which is Fri!), last night I took my beautiful yarn and wound it around the back of my Mom's couch so I could dye half of that skein and the yarn would self-stripe. (We discovered Mom's couch is actually the perfect circumfrence for dying yarn for socks/gloves so that they stripe in 2row wide stripes!)
For some reason the black dye I used didn't work. This morning I mixed orange koolaid with grape koolaid and the resulting color is very dark dried-blood/almost black which works for me cause I was planning on channeling Tim Burton's version of the Queen of Hearts with my mitts anyway. I'm calling this colorway "Iracebeth" in her honor.
It all started with an idea. Let's have another TwitterKAL. I've had that Susie's Reading Mitts pattern in my queue since the last TwitKAL and 2 skeins of Lavish super-fine alpaca in a gorgeous blood color, sent to me by a fellow knitter in a yarn swap. In preparation for the cast-on date (which is Fri!), last night I took my beautiful yarn and wound it around the back of my Mom's couch so I could dye half of that skein and the yarn would self-stripe. (We discovered Mom's couch is actually the perfect circumfrence for dying yarn for socks/gloves so that they stripe in 2row wide stripes!)For some reason the black dye I used didn't work. This morning I mixed orange koolaid with grape koolaid and the resulting color is very dark dried-blood/almost black which works for me cause I was planning on channeling Tim Burton's version of the Queen of Hearts with my mitts anyway. I'm calling this colorway "Iracebeth" in her honor.
Which brings us to Murphy's Law. If it can go wrong, it 
will. Great idea, bad in execution. The part that went wrong? The re-skeining. I made sure not to tangle or twist the HUGE skein while it was dying, being rinsed and hung to dry. I began to wind it around my swift to form a 2yd skein and got exactly 3 rounds before it all went to hell. Tangled. Terribly tangled. I think it took me 3 hours to untangle it. While I was working on it, I made homemade pecan cinnamon buns though so it wasn't a total loss.
will. Great idea, bad in execution. The part that went wrong? The re-skeining. I made sure not to tangle or twist the HUGE skein while it was dying, being rinsed and hung to dry. I began to wind it around my swift to form a 2yd skein and got exactly 3 rounds before it all went to hell. Tangled. Terribly tangled. I think it took me 3 hours to untangle it. While I was working on it, I made homemade pecan cinnamon buns though so it wasn't a total loss.But finally, I have my 200yd ball of dark red 
and darker red which will stripe in a spectacularly gothic manner. I wonder if I should try to wind it into 2 center-pull balls so I can make sure to make each mitt the same size (since I'm already 20yds short, gonna have to tweak the length) or if I should just wing it? After all, it isn't like I couldn't dye the other skein....
and darker red which will stripe in a spectacularly gothic manner. I wonder if I should try to wind it into 2 center-pull balls so I can make sure to make each mitt the same size (since I'm already 20yds short, gonna have to tweak the length) or if I should just wing it? After all, it isn't like I couldn't dye the other skein....
Wow. I am sure it was a headache and a half to deal with the tangle (sometimes I just leave it till my master-untangler sister comes over, lol) but your end result is so nice! I looove the dark red with the darker red, so pretty!
ReplyDeleteNow, what's this about a Twitter knitalong?! Fun!
Ugh, my hand dyes always seem to tangle (if they do tangle, that is) on the reskeining. Love the colors though. I queued the pattern on Ravelry (not sure if I'll be able to do the KAL) so I can make these too!
ReplyDeleteI am so not sure I would have had the perseverance to remedy that, good on ya! It's beateous, BTW.
ReplyDelete