Ravellenic Games Day One

Greetings from... virtualSochi, Russia!  I'm not actually in Sochi, but my brain kind of is.  At 10am this morning I joined knitters, crocheters, spinners, and weavers around the globe in beginning the challenge of working an entire project between the 7th and the 23rd, the run of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games.

I was not expecting to start at 10 since I have Speech class beginning at that time.  Because my professor ran out of copies on an important handout, though, class didn't start until a few minutes after ten, and I used those minutes to cast on for my first project.  Lucky coincidence!

I'm going to try to do daily updates on my progress, so you can keep up with the fun.  Ready?  Here we go.


Irish Roots:
This is the project I started in Speech class by crocheting the foundation chain and casting on some of the stitches before class officially began and I packed it all up.  I'm actually astounded by how far I got.

Look at that thing!  A completed short-row toe and a not-insignificant-amount of the foot done too.  Notice the two cable bands snaking their way up the sides.  I love it.

This yarn is hand-dyed by me using food coloring and vinegar and a lot of time to get the heathered look.  I didn't want a solid green, I wanted noticeable shading.  And I'm quite pleased with what I got!

Falling Ungulates:
I started this after lunch (although shhh... the fiber was put in to soak yesterday!), and I'm beyond happy with how it turned out.  Today was dyeing-only day, and the fiber is now drying in my shower (and yes, I'm aware of the irony there).

Artsy smug-photography shot.  My measuring tape is laid out under the cling wrap so I can measure without worrying about the damage to my tools!  That's the burgundy dye, which didn't turn out as well as anticipated because there wasn't enough acid to set the blue, but if I added more the red precipitated out.  That dye will require a lot more fussing-over than I was able to give it today.  

Also it stains everything pink.  I've literally never had that problem with the rest of my food dyes.  Basically if it touched a stain-able surface, that thing was pink.  Usually it'll wash off if you get to it fast enough.  So weird.

And the finished fiber.  That should have been burgundy/pink/red/yellow, with slight overlaps.  Instead it came out dark salmon/pink/orange/yellow.  Where the red went, I don't know.  The yellow and pink seem to have just eaten it.

It's a lot softer in color than I had anticipated, although I really do adore it.  If I could do it over I'd mix up more burgundy, you can kind of see the pale patches where there wasn't enough dye.  I'd also concentrate the red more so the other colors don't mysteriously swallow it.

Tomorrow... spinning! (And probably sock knitting too.)