Occasionally, a plan actually comes together

Everyone needs a friend like Lolly. 

A few weeks ago, she let me know her local yarn shop was having a great sale on their undyed yarns.  She scooped up a bunch of skeins on my behalf and sent them to me.  

Once they arrived, I quickly dyed up one bunch in a Feisty raspberry red, which eventually became the Feisty Tavern.

The other skeins were not in sweater quantities, so I placed an order to Catnip Yarns to fill out my needs. While this order was supposed to a Christmas gift from the husband, as soon as they arrived, I matched up a skein of Gaia Bulky from what Lolly had sent with a skein from Catnip, and quickly dyed them:

Upon spying them, the younger daughter quickly called dibs on them.  She has asked for something lacy and loose, like this:

The pattern is Midnight Shrug by Alice Tang.  In the bright blue, I think it will be much more age appropriate.

Excluding the bulky and the skeins used for the Feisty Tavern, I had 2,200+ yards of each of the following: Kona Superwash Fingering, Kona Superwash Sport, and Gaia Merino Worsted.

As I have mentioned before, I have a penchant for knitting with two strands of fingering to create light, airy, and squishy worsted weight garments.  I just love the fabric they create.

The Kona fingering was really light fingering, and the Kona Sport resembled regular fingering to me.  So, I decided to dye them in a more variegated colorway and combine them (by knitting with one strand of each) to get something akin to a dk weight, perhaps a light worsted.  

While my dyeing experience was somewhat limited, as I felt I had a good handle on achieving semi-solid results, I was unsure how well I would do attempting a more variegated colorway.

 

In the dye pot, the colors reminded me of golden ponies, but once dry and swatched, she declared herself:  "Lioness."

I cast on with US 4 needles (bottom of the photo).  Every purl row marked a change in needle size.  By the time I cast off, I was using US 8 needles (top of photo).

In addition to a light, airy fabric with excellent drape on US 7 and US 8 needles, knitting with two strands helped tame any pooling that may have occurred with the variegation.  

Gauge with US 7 needles was 5 sts/inch.  On US 8 needles, the gauge was 4.5 sts/inch.  Both were more worsted gauge, than dk; however, US 5 and US 6 needles gave me dk gauge.  I just preferred the fabric on the US 7 and US 8 needles.

To say that I am thrilled is an absolute understatement.  The colors are rich with great depth.  The fabric is squishy and soft.  

YAY!

Now, off to find a pattern that matches my gauge and for which my mottled yarn is well suited.