Dyeorama, Dulaan, and Project Specrum, all at once

So, last weekend, I did some dyeing, attempting to get into it for Dyeorama, since I haven't done any in a few months. My first plan was to take a skein I'd attempted to do in black, green, and brown and overdye it. This is the skein where I found out that black wilton cake dyes turn bright pink, and that I hate the way pink, brown, and green look together. So, I did my first attempt at immersion dying, with a mix of two blue wilton skeins:


The result, which I still don't have pictures of, is much more pleasing. The pinks have been toned down to a purple color and the browns are murkier. It unfortunately felted a little, but the colors are much more satisfying. I still have one 'mistake' skein to redye - I had originally dyed it in attempts to make pastels to see if I could, then remembered I'm not a big fan of pastels and overdyed it yellow. Which made it a color that looks vomit-y. I think I'm going to try overdying it with green the next time I bust out the dyes.

While that was cooking, I worked on an attempt at a self-striping skein. Since immersion dyeing takes so long on the stove and I don't have a lot of pots or patience, I ended up using the microwave:


Two shades of green, one of purple, one blue, and the end result drying in my bathroom looks something like this:


I like it, but I don't think I'll be giving it to my Dyeorama pal. There are several reasons for this: the purple, as you can see a bit of in the picture, is rather heathered because the Wilton purple dye likes to seperate. I was hoping to avoid that, and for the most part it's not bad, but it's still not good enough that I'd want to give to someone, I don't think. I was also hoping that the blue would turn out brighter, closer to a royal blue than a sky blue. I was hoping for more of a difference between the two shades of green. I used leaf green mixed with a bit of yellow for the lighter shade, which turned out how I wanted it, but the darker shade is still too light. Finally, there is still some white where I tied the yarn to keep it from tangling. I suppose I dyed it too tight for the dye to penetrate. Woops.

Since I've heard superwash yarn sucks up dye better than regular yarn, I may order some of that and try it. I don't think I'll try another self-striping skein - it's such a pain in the ass to do, what with how it has to be reskeined 3 times. That, and I like handpainting much more.

I do have some finished things, as well. I finally finished the second of this pair of socks, using some of the first sock yarn I handpainted:


Green, blue, orange and yellow. Bright and obnoxious, just the way I like it. Really short color repeats help avoid pooling except for on the toes. And then, I have a green-ish Dulaan sweater almost finished:


I just have to attatch the sleeves and sew up the sides and then weave in the ends. God, I hate finishing.