I finished the cloud skein wonder, washed it and laid it out to block. An awful lot of blue came out the in the washing (water, no soap or detergent). Shmeh, I thought. It's hand-dyed. A little excess is bound to come out.
However, I didn't expect that so much dye would come out that the front of the cloud skein wonder would look slightly faded, while the back which (being 'underneath' when blocking, and thus where gravity took what water i didn't squeeze out) would end up a much more intense colour. See the line across the sleeve?
Not a shadow. A tidemark from where the dye leached from and to. After I squeezed out all excess water. That's not a little bit of excess dye. It dyed my towel too. I am seriously unimpressed, and join the ranks of those who wouldn't buy
Mystical Creations Yarn again. There's more dye movement than after my DIY Kool-Aid experiments, for feck's sake! I can't decide whether to drop them a (whinging) line or not.
Anyway, here's the finished thing. Quite pretty, if you discount the dye difference. Not that i can wear it out anywhere it might get a little bit damp. I fancy my clothes not adulterated with more blue-green dye.
In better news, I've started playing with all the debbie bliss cashmerino aran I got on sale. Unfortunately, I was unaware of its reputation for pilling. however, two gauge swatches (yes, two! i'm trying to do this proper) went through the washing machine no problem. No fuzzing, no colour running (take that, MCY!) Though the yarn does feel a bit funny to work with. My fibre research has told me that microfiber (a pretty large percentage of cashmerino) is known for wicking moisture away. So I think the odd feeling is the yarn sucking away at any sweat/ oils on my fingers. This is the start of the
cardigan for Arwen, from Winter Interweave Knits. Nice and casual (so if it pills, I'll still wear it to uni), but an unusual construction that I hope will teach me to understand short rows better.
I've been messing about with combination knitting, to see how I like it and how it works with my RSI. I might have tried to knit the whole thing combination-style, but I've discovered that the yarn is so smooth and regular and I'm so skilled that I can - wait for it - read and knit at the same time! Vistas open before me! Mostly vistas of spiral-bound uni readers right now, but eventually I imagine getting through books for work while making myself a useful garment at the same time.
