Dye Lots

Here's a truth about knitting from stash -- you never know what you're gonna get.

So I have this gorgeous, singly ply, peach colored Sylvan Spirit wool/tencel blend in my stash. 360 yards to be exact.

I initially bought it to make socks -- until I remembered, I don't like knitting socks.

I've made 2 pair socks so far, the first pair cuff down, the second toe up. I do greatly prefer knitting toe up to cuff down (you get to do the same thing for the heel as the toe, aesthetically they just look nicer, yardage control, etc) but for some reason, socks to me just seem...well...under appreciated. There is just so much effort, so many stitches and needles, all for something you hide in a shoe and wear once before having to wash it. (Plus I'm seriously craving warm sunny days and flip-flops.) Although I might come around when this fierce winter loosens its grip and I no longer want to have a big fluffy sweater in my lap. Also, I recently found 9" circs from Hiya Hiya, and though I have yet to try them, that may just make things go a little faster. Someday. Maybe. Eventually.

But inbetween now and then are shrugs. The perfect project for 360 yards of peachy yarn.
The pattern: Hew.
A simple little shrug with interesting stitch detail on the sleeves and collar and it would be my first top down raglan. Calls for 300 yards in my size. What's not to love?
Ran out of yarn about 2/3 of the way through. Well. Apparently all 300 yards are not created equal. Considered briefly about buying an extra hank on the company's website, but thought, no...what if I get a different dye lot??? Rrrrrrip.

Since I loved the pattern so much anyways, and since I received an email from my LYS about a sale (sale!!) and since I needed a needle anyways, off to the LYS it was for me. 5, no 6 (just in case) skeins (at 50% off, thankyouverymuch) and a week and a half later, this is the result.


Not bad. I don't much favor variegated yarns, but this one came out nicely, with the subtle hues of ocean ripple blue, and even a slight sheen if caught at the right angle.

Amidst all the ripping and rewinding of the peach stuff, there was also mad Ravelry pattern searching and swatching. Oooh..what if I hold two strands together! Imagine the possibilities! Swatched up with some Rowan Kid Classic in Feather, the stuff is heaven. Pure heaven. The Sylvan Spirit itself knit up kind of stiff, but combining it with Kid Classic completely dissolves all stiffness and produces a kind of soft fluffiness that conjures images of bouncing amidst cumulus clouds floating in a perfectly blue sky.


How apt, then, that the name of pattern is Cloud Bolero.

Alas, perfection is hard to come by in the knitting world, and this is no exception. I only have one skein of Kid Classic. 153 yards. The pattern calls for 200 yards. The one skein I have is left over from a sweater I made 2 and 1/2 years ago. I called 4 shops and only one carries Kid Classic. Oh, and they have one skein left of the colorway I need. I get there, and much to my bitter expectation, the dye lot, is of course, different.