8/8/11
I finished the socks and washed them with Euclan. This morning I put them out on the porch to speed up the drying process. When I looked a few hours later, the side that was up - in the sun - had turned GREEN! It is as if the Blue and purple dyes were UV sensitive and broke down leaving only the teal and black dyes! Who’d a thunk! I like the green color, but it is only on one side and on the surface of the other side, the purl ribs are purple and the knit areas are tealy - weird but kinda cool. I’m going to put them out again tomorrow with the purple side up and at least try to get them evenly green. Right now one side is green and the other is purple right down the middle of the sock!

7/24/11
Started the Purple/teal blank, using pattern #177 from 250 Couture Knit Stitch Patterns by Hitomi Shida. The yarn knits up very heathery but I thought it was subtle enough not to overpower the lace/cable pattern. As I continue to knit I am not so sure as the variegation seems more pronounced. Oh well.
Used Judy’s Magic Cast On , working 2-at-a-time, magic-loop, toe-up and plan to make a small gusset prior to a Yarn-over short-row heel and decreasing the flap knitiing flat prior to rejoining to work the ankle and leg in the round. I haven’t decided what I am going to do with the back of the leg or the bind off yet. Hopefully it will become obvious to me as the sock takes shape. I’m writing the pattern up as I go. Writing patterns is much more compliacted and tiem consuming than just figuring out what I want to knit and how.

Sock Blanks we dyed yesterday at a Guild workshop. The backs of patterned blanks show that in trying to control the dye with “sponge paintbrushes” I didn’t get the dye all the way through, so their are going to be a lot of partially dyed areas in the yarn.

The “sunset” blank I painted the background, set the dye in the microwave, and then overdyed the “tree.” I usied fairly concentrated black/teal/blue dye mixed with vinegar and applied it with a disposable pipette.

At last summer’s workshop, some of the most interesting colors resulted from combining various “leftover” dyes and letting nature take its course. The solid colored blank was submerged in a basin with the blue, rose, and purple from the previous two blanks and then after a moment or two I dumped in the blackish dyes from the “sunset blank” The back is the same color as the front.

Last night I was fooling around with gauge to match the rows of blanks Terry machine knitted for us. Even the solid purple/teal blank has tiny undyed patches between/within the stitches, but it gives the yarn a soft heathery look that I really like.

I don’t know when I am going to use this yarn, but I am excited about how it came out.