For everyone wondering if amateur hand-dyed yarn would be, well, fugly... here's your answer: sometimes.
I usually avoid mulitcolored yarn, unless it's specifically created to be self-striping. That whole hand-painted thing is a little to random for me... and HATE HATE HATE! it when the colors pool together in my knitting. So you can imagine my dismay when I was working the garter stitch cuff of these mittens and saw the horrid pooling going on. I tried to humor myself: "maybe it will look like a candy cane! I like candy canes!" because after all, it was my first try, what could I really expect anyway? If worst came to worst I could always just dye it all red.
But oh! What a difference an extra 12 sitiches evenly distributed around the hand of the mitten make! Look at the lovely stripeys! They're all even and geogetrical and stuff... I love it. I probably will try to dye the cuffs when I finish - I just hope the second mitten looks somewhat similar to the first.
(You know you want to get in on the hand-dyed action - send me an email or leave a comment to join the Project Spectrum Hand-Dyed Sock Yarn Swap!)
Umm - what is pooling? I feel goofy asking, but I NEED to know!
Hi Sarah! I know this doesn't matter, but I actually like the pooling! I think its neat. Not to mention that not many people can say that they dyed the yarn that they used to knit their own socks, however imperfect you think they look. :) I'm still working on the bobbolicious... I'm not quite 1/2 done but I'm starting to get antsy to finish it and start on something else. Startitus, I guess. Anyway, good job with the socks. I like them!