A Highly Bloggable Incident

"Well, this sucks."

Dontcha just love it when something happens that gives you blog fodder? I know you do.

Me, too. 

I'm innocently getting ready to do some thrummed mittens for a friend. Her request is for off-white mittens with sky-blue thrums. Well, thing number one I found out -- "sky blue" is a) very subjective to define, and b) maybe even more difficult to attain in my simple kitchen dyeing methods.

"Methods" is, of course, a very loosely-used term around here. I don't know if the color I got is sky blue. I think it sort of is, depending on the day and the sky.

But here's the weird part. See those things on that cookie sheet? They were all dyed under the same conditions in the same dyepot at the same time. Isn't that weird? The yarn is Cascade 220. I wanted to dye a little bit of it the same color as the thrums to use as an edge-tipping of color on the mitten cuffs. The roving in the middle is some of the same Montadale that I loved so dearly in my red mittens. See how it took the dye?  It DIDN'T! Except if you hold it up to the light, it is the most amazing thing. It has taken it to the very slightest degree, so it looks like ice. It's quite awesome, actually, but totally unusable as anything blue. Just white. Almost super-white. And look at the pile of roving on the right. It is Icelandic lamb roving, first cutting, and look how nicely it took the dye! It's completely fortuitous that I chose to dye more than one kind. If I'd only tried the Montadale, I can envision me writing to my friend and saying, "I'm so sorry, but I can't make any roving blue." But there I have a whole pile of nice soft Icelandic lambswool to use, nicely colored.

That's all. Just reporting to you. Nothing deeper than that. Just the observation and no deep scientific talk, because, let's face it: I have no idea what the science is behind this, but I find it interesting nonetheless. It won't lead to world peace or anything, but it's kind of interesting. Isn't it?

P.S. I'll send a little something to the first person who correctly identifies where I got the quote at the top of this entry.

Comments

[Michelle]

I will delurk here to guess that the quote comes from Madagascar. Love the "giant" mittens!

[rock chick]

Certain beers and ales also take dyes better than others. (Don't ask how I know, I just do and we'll leave it at that.) I, too, have no scientific explanation. That's why I majored in writing.

[S.Kate]

Memorable Quotes from
Madagascar (2005)
Marty the Zebra: The penguins are going, so why can't I?
Alex the Lion: Marty, the penguins are psychotic.
Skipper the Penguin: [on arriving at Antarctica] Well, this sucks!

[Carole]

I'm too late to win the prize for the quote, but I do agree it's interesting. Math, no fun. Science, pretty fun.

[KT]

I would never have guessed that quote. Gimme a quote from that insipid purple dinosaur, the squeeking mumbling blue dog or the big red dog and I am golden! I love your dyeing efforts. For sure that is sky blue!

[Beth S.]

Now your challenge is to find just the right yarn to use with that almost-blue thrum fleece--something that will really bring out the hint of color in it. Something that will make it look all silvery ice-blue and Snow Queen-ish. :-)

[Stephanie]

Well. Now I know what movie to rent this afternoon.

[Billi-Jean]

Off topic... but, I thought you might be interested in this:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Old-Country-Primitive-Flax-Hatchel-Hetchel-Wool-Comb_W0QQitemZ7379833245QQcategoryZ1217QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

:)

[Tish]

Important life lessons that Madagascar can teach us: You can get your friends stranded on an island inhabited by foosahs and whacko lemurs and they will still love you. You can bite your best friend on the butt and he/she will forgive you. Crazy dancing is good for the spirit, as is wearing a hand made crown with a dancing gecko on it. Bonus lesson: Spaghetti is more exotic-sounding to a 5yo if you start calling it foosah-getti and pretend it is made with foosah instead of the usual ground turkey or veggie-crumbles.

[Cathy]

Same dyepot at the same time. By any chance was the "ice blue" on the top of the layer?

[sandy]

Oh, stop having contests that I can't answer until I read the comments and have to copy from other's papers. Scheez. You've turned me into a cheater.
This DOES suck!
hee!
xoxo
I'm loving your ice blue. You amaze me, dyeing your own. I bow to you.
Ow. It hurt!

[Dene]

Oh .. dyed stuff - I love it! and my fav color :)
I was going to ask if you knew my kids - the quote is one of their favorites :)

[ann]

I just dyed a pair of xmas gloves for my daughter ( let her pick the color and one is bright pink and the other barely pink. Same pot same dye."well, this sucks." is perfect, cuz now they are 2 shades of pink and already knit! Have fun with your Jamaican sky blue yarn.

[margene]

The yarn is the color of the sky in the desert at sunset. Beautiful. You really do well with dyeing. My guess is the roving wasn't wet enough or took too long to grab the dye and the other pieces soaked it up first.

[Dawn]

That's very cool how the Montdale turned out. Of course, you do realize you're never going to be able to duplicate it. Stupid fortuitous accidents.

[liz]

I'm glad to know it's Madagascar. Yet another reason to keep my child, who memorizes large chunks of dialog instantly, from watching "kids" movies and, instead, stick with musicals. No bad language in On The Town! (And no, I don't really think that "sucks" is actually bad language and I certainly curse like the proverbial longshoreman when I'm not in her presence. I just don't want my three-year-old stating "this sucks" all the time. Whioh she would.)

[Chris]

I'm so glad that I wasn't even close to being the first person responding, because it would've killed me to not know where the quote was from (covet orange Chibi for no good reason). What sort of dye did you use on the yarn? Wilton's Sky Blue?

[Dave Daniels]

Uh, I think I win. I said that line on August 4th, 1996, in reference to a highly personal incident.

[Dave Daniels]

Uh, I think I win. I said that line on August 4th, 1996, in reference to a highly personal incident.

[Patti]

What an amazing mystery about how fibers take dye. When we did kool-aid dyeing the first time, the yarn just sucked up all the yellow out of the yellow so fast, it was weird to have the dye bath go totally clear. I remember getting a very bright, fall sky blue out of the kool-aid.

We love Madagascar, even though it makes my son tear up a bit in parts.

[annmarie]

That pale roving makes me think of photgraphs I've seen of icebergs.

Maybe you could make Antartica gloves out of it?

[Debi]

No matter how it happened, all the wool is lovely Norma!
Can't wait to see what you make of it!

[Julia]

Oh, this is KILLING me, because I've been using the Koinkidink line for so long, but I can't remember exactly what it's from! Sure, it showed up in Madagascar, but what made it funny is the reference back to ____, when it was first used. Arg! Was it Phoebe on "Friends"? No, before that. It was in the 80's, wasn't it? Anthony Michael Hall in "Sixteen Candles"? Hmm . . . one of the other brat pack movies maybe. No, my brain keeps going back to "Sixteen Candles". Trust the brain.

Ok, I'm going to have to cheat and go Google it.

Thanks Norma, for the Monday Wake-Up.
Julia in St. Paul, MN