over-dyeing sucess!

I bought this sock yarn at my very first ROC day hosted by the Black Sheep Handspinners guild in Ithaca NY. In the skien it reminded my of Starry night, but once wound up into a ball it started to lose some of it's appeal. When I knit it up, it looked even worse. The colors, while beautiful when separated by white, would touch when knitted up and looked a little like vomit. However, I held on to it anyway, move after move. and in a summer of 2012 when I was traveling a lot, I took this skein along to knit sock from. My reasoning was that I would knit it while distracted by travel, and knit it because I had nothing else to knit. One day I vowed that I would over-dye the finished socks. 

Why go to all this trouble for one skien, you ask? Well, readers from other countries, you have no idea how precious a resource like wool sock yarn is, until your supply is limited. Even though I can order more yarn online, the lack of selection for natural fibers locally adds a layer of value to any skein.

Left sock

 So I finally got around to dyeing it this week, along with a test bump of the some Spanish merino fiber I recently acquired. I put in purple, navy, and grey into the pot, put the socks in first, then the merino. Because I was kettle dyeing it without salt. I knew that the colors would be tonal, darker in some areas than others. I also knew that because this was an already (tightly) knit object, that the dye would attach to some areas easier then others.

Right sock

I am in love with the result, what do you think? There are areas where the original colors shine through, especially in the purl ridges of the ribbing at the top. I like it! It adds a depth to the dark color, while at the same time improving the original colors.