Deegu (Adriana)

Pretty much as soon as I started knitting I was fascinated with variegated yarns. I quickly learned (after an unfortunate pair of wrist warmers) that complicated designs and multicoloured yarns don’t work together. I was able to give up busy yarns for larger projects but I couldn’t do it for socks. I love the stripes of Regia and Trekking, the perfect variegation of Koigu. My dislike of pooling has kept me from purchasing any STR but I still drool over the Blue Moon website. Lorna’s Laces’ tendency to pool wasn’t enough to keep me from grabbing some in Wisteria as a memento of my trip to Seattle last year.
Given this adoration of variegated sock yarn it’s hardly surprising that I quickly ventured into the world of dyeing. My first attempt was crude, making use of some pink and red Kool-Aid. Heather was the recipient of this sweet-smelling skein.
Rosemary introduced me to proper acid dyes last spring when we dyed together in her basement.
Here is what I came up with.


Pacific NW Coast


Top: Flames
Bottom: Green/purple stripes (I was less than inspired)


Tulip Garden (currently being made into Spiral Boot socks from the new IK).


Clapotis Inspired (made into these gauntlets)

After languishing in my stash for almost a year I finally concluded that the first three really weren’t me and they have gone to live with sock-maker extraordinaire, SpillyJane (check out her Rib and Cable Socks. They are stunning).
More dyeing has occurred since then. Heather received dyes for her birthday from Rosemary and I got some for Christmas from my mom. My sense of colours has improved; I’ve gotten better at selecting colours and shades that I will actually like after the initial high of the dyeing process has worn off.
Here are a few of the other yarns I have dyed:


Dyed per Rosemary's specifications as part of the yarn dye challenge (more from us about this later. For now you can check it out on Rosemary's blog.)


Though Gen hasn't been fully converted to sock knitter yet, I couldn't resist gifting her with some handdyed sock yarn for her birthday. Hopefully some gentle encouragement is all she needs to get back to socks.


This was made by dyeing part red and part bright pink. When the colour looked too bland for my tastes Sam encouraged me to splatter it with a darker colour we had on hand. I think this more subtle colourway would be perfect for cables.

I got my invitation to Ravelry (username “Aphrodidee”) last week and much of the weekend was spent photographing my stash and adding pictures of it and my projects to the website. Talk about an excellent resource. The creators truly are brilliant. No wonder it exploded when knitters found out.
As I was inputting the information about my stash I decided to make my handdyed yarns official by giving them the name Jane had coined: Deegu. So if you want to see my yarns and what I’ve been making with them you can look it up on Ravelry. How cool is that?!?!

This ends my rambling about variegated yarns. You may now return to your life :)