Friday, October 7, 2011

Yarn Play, Part 4

Are you getting tired of this yet?

I'm not. In fact, I'm having a great time pulling yarns from the "sell" pile and dyeing them to get new yarn for my stash!

This is the latest candidate:

What, you think that's kind of pretty? So did I, which is why I bought it. Then I knitted a swatch:

It almost makes my eyes bleed. It's not even clown barf. It's what clown barf would look like the morning after an all-night bender. I'm pretty good at coming up with good uses for questionable colorways, but this one? Yuck.

The yarn, however, is merino bulky from handpaintedyarn.com, which is, I believe, the same as Malabrigo Merino Bulky. Well worth saving, in other words.

I didn't think there was any color that would cover this virulent combination, so I went with good old dark brown. I was hoping it would just cover everything. It didn't. I even added more dye to the dye bath as it was dyeing. Twice. In fact, I ended up using the entire jar of brown dye. No dice. There really is no color that will cover this. (Anyone else remember the country song "John Deere Green"? That's what I hear in my head when I look at this yarn.) Here is what I got:

It's not bad, but definitely not what I was going for--it's kind of a toned-down version of the original. I may try to overdye it again with more brown, once my new order arrives. My husband likes it the way it is, though. Maybe it will become something for him.

3 comments:

Fibra Artysta said...

The original looks like a doctor's waiting room decorating scheme from the 80s.

Instead of brown, what about over dyeing with a navy? Its darker but not black so it might make the colors more level. I'm not expert but just a thought...

Suzanne said...

I like the new colors. Its earthy!

Anonymous said...

I kind of liked the original. Although I'll grant you I'm not sure what you could do with it in a bulky weight. (Too loud for a jacket. Way too loud for a blanket.)

But if hubby likes it I say go for it! Mine only ever likes brown. Not 'funny' brown you understand. Brown. Just brown. Occasionally he'll get daring and agree to gray. But only for socks.