Overdye surprise
Before: This is the pic from yesterday. The yarn is the DK weight of Knitpicks’ “Bare” 100% superwash merino wool, acid dyed in the crockpot, primary color blue plus a little violet. The dye uptake wasn’t as thorough as I’d like, perhaps due to late addition of the blue, but more likely due to inadequate pre-soaking of the yarn. I decided to overdye the skein in darker tones.
After: What in blue blazes? This is the same blue yarn overdyed in the crockpot with a mixture of purple, violet-blue, and black. Unfortunately, my black had been mixed long ago and the red/orange elements had begun to separate. I didn’t realize this until I had upended the remainder of the bottle into the crockpot and started it going. Rinsing the bottle out released a flood of orange precipitate. Too late now! I hadn’t mixed any vinegar into the dye, but I still let it sit a lot longer than it should have. Let this be a lesson not to be a miser by trying to store mixed dyes beyond their natural shelf life.
Well, I learned something and it’s an interesting effect I would not otherwise have gotten, sooo… success? Sure. Why not.
Today’s the first day of the new school year. Em was at the door and raring to go at 6:30 this morning, but I kind of stalled her until 7am (the earliest the school doors open). At that point, we were in the yard and she started to go around the house, saying she wanted to walk to school. Oops! If I’d known that in advance, I wouldn’t have stalled so much. We wound up driving, but we’ll walk together tomorrow if the weather permits. We did walk up to the school’s open house last week, so she knows what she’s getting into.
Coincidentally, I grew up in this house and went to Em’s same school, starting there at the same age she is now. I walked to school myself. I think it’ll be a great way to start the day.
Today I’ve run the greenway – I’m jumping on my first free morning – and come home and watered the plants and done a little wii fit stuff. My weight was up a little the last couple of days as I madly sucked down water bottles to free up enough for dyeing. Heh. It’s back down now.
Later I’ll be packing up more kits and hats, as well as a ball of stash yarn which someone bought. I need to post more for sale. Tonight, hopefully, I’ll be binding off socks from my last batch of handdyed sock yarn.
I hope your day is as great as mine has been so far!
I really liked the original color of the yarn, and didn’t see why it deserved re-dying. But I *love* the new colors. Accident or not, it really turned out gorgeous.
Hooray for first days of school! I always loved them! I hope she is having a marvelous time!
I really liked the original color of the yarn, and didn’t see why it deserved re-dying. But I *love* the new colors. Accident or not, it really turned out gorgeous.
Hooray for first days of school! I always loved them! I hope she is having a marvelous time!
Thanks! I had just dyed a lot of light blue toned yarn that day, and I think that colored my perception of the yarn. If I’d let it sit for a day, I might have made a different decision.
Usually, I’m all about the blue, and have to kind of push myself to make different things sometimes. Maybe I shouldn’t have pushed so hard this time! The yarn’s kind of growing on me, though, so that’s good.
Thanks! I had just dyed a lot of light blue toned yarn that day, and I think that colored my perception of the yarn. If I’d let it sit for a day, I might have made a different decision.
Usually, I’m all about the blue, and have to kind of push myself to make different things sometimes. Maybe I shouldn’t have pushed so hard this time! The yarn’s kind of growing on me, though, so that’s good.
Hey, I think it looks kind of cool. If the pic is true, it’s kind of tortie-cat looking.
Hey, I think it looks kind of cool. If the pic is true, it’s kind of tortie-cat looking.
The black/orange/purple looks very Halloween. It’s pretty.
The black/orange/purple looks very Halloween. It’s pretty.