Sunday, April 13, 2008

I fucking love merino.

I started thinking the other night - I know, I know, that's always dangerous - and decided if I was going to use the malachite green roving as a gift, I should probably hone my spinning skills a bit (okay, a lot) more before I screw it up. From knitting the Zen sweater, it has become apparent that my spinning is a lot less even than I think it is.

So I dyed half of the merino roving I had laying around.

The trick seems to be using a lot of mordant. In this case, vinegar. The husbeast has carried on for two (three?) days now about how the house smells like he stuck his head in a pickle barrel. I may have to remind him of the weekend he went drag-racing and blew the differential out of the truck three times, to get him to shut up. Like he's never smelled up the house.

Anyway, the roving came out a bit, uh, well.

Bright. I think bright's the proper word for this. As I've been spinning it, I've been trying to come up with a name for these colors, and all I can think of is "Summer Landscape on Acid." I dunno, call me crazy, but I'm not sure it's good to be refrencing illegal drugs in my color names. (I've already blown that with Purple Trainwreck, actually. Turns out it's the same name as a high-yield mairjuana hybrid out of British Columbia. I SWEAR I did not know this when I named it. Honest. I swear. Stoners keep showing up on my blog after doing searches for the stuff and finding yarn instead, poor bastards.)

So I've been spinning the merino. I'd been told by quite a few people that I shouldn't start with merino because it's too slippery or something, but this is the nicest fiber I've spun so far - long staple, soft, smooth, easily drafted, you name it. It's like a tactile hot fudge sundae. Though the colors are still, um, yeah.

Maybe it'll mellow out a bit when I ply it. But somehow, I doubt it.

13 comments:

Emma M. said...

It kind of reminds me of those Impressionist paintings of people hanging out on river banks in the sunshine. Which could also be described as summer landscapes on acid, I think.

Amy Lane said...

Nipple Piercing Monet? Bee Screaming Green? Sugarless lemonade? Anyway, it's awesome!!!

And I was falling off my chair thinking about the poor stoners, looking at that bright, bright yarn...

kris said...

Sixties Acid Flashback yarn!! Dang, Julie, you've outdone yourself this time.

Purple Trainwreck weed? BWAHAHAHAHA!

happyspider said...

don't worry, plying will knock out the brightness unless you navajo ply.
and you can always give the final yarn a bit of a soak in a dilute blue to take the edge of... but honestly? i think it's gorgeous :p

Anonymous said...

I think the colors are perfect. That's exact;y my favorite part of the spectrum.

Alwen said...

Sooooo, you can always try dyeing on gray roving, eh?

Looks like a happy summer tie-dye to me! :) Hilarious coincidence about Purple Trainwreck!

roxie said...

Lime Rickey? Willow green? Screaming veridian zonkers? I love it!

Catie said...

I think that stoners looking at your yarn is freakin' hilarious.

Brewgal said...

How about Grateful (as in Dead) Summer?

Allison said...

Haight-Ashbury '69? Mellow Yellow?

And Purple Trainwreck? That's just too funny for words -- and I totally believe that you weren't aware of the connection.

Cara said...

I dyed this weekend too! (and got some pretty wild colors myself.)
Did you microwave it? Did you have to re-card the roving, or could you just use it as is after you dyed it? Did you do anything special to keep it from felting?

Anonymous said...

the purple trainwreck coincidence reminds me of the night my knitting group was sitting in our usual restaurant, discussing a planned coop yarn buy. good thing no narcs were lurking as we discussed buying kilos of rainbow, how many ounces in a kilo, and wanting this for our stashes. (gigglesnort)

we were, of course, referring to kauni yarn.

ellen in indy

Donna Lee said...

I think you should call it electric lemon/lime. Maybe if you plied it with a less bright color it would tone it down a little.