Glory, glory hallelujah!

So, as most of you know by now, I'm attending this nifty, small little soiree called Sock Summit, which is actually quite nifty, but far from small.  I'll be in booth #315, and I will have on a raspberry colored T-shirt.  You can't miss me, I'm the one with the yarn.


Dublin Bay Knitting Company, booth 827, will also have a large selection of our things.

I'm entering a competition specifically for people whose yarn is being sold at the Summit, called Dye for Glory. It's a bit like a State Fair competition, you enter your item in a category, and then it's judged against others in that category. Except instead of Mabel winning a blue ribbon for her boysenberry pie, Yarnista is attempting to win for her Sea Anemone yarn. If you win, you win exactly what the contest title suggests: Glory.

Never one to shy away from a little friendly competition, except for all sports, mathlete events, invention conventions and anything related to physics, I decided to enter.

There is one thing you can rest assured of when you see something I've made: I never just throw some sugar and milk in a bowl and call it creme brulee. I don't know how to type accent marks, but I'm sure creme brulee needs some.  I never just buy some brandy, splash it on some cookies, and call it tiramisu. Does tiramisu need accent marks? No matter, I can't type them anyway.

Perhaps this is my overly perfectionistic nature in things that are not related to inventions, math, physics, or athletics, but colorways take me a long time to perfect. Have I mentioned this before? I feel like I have. A colorway has to strike the right note for me in order to be offered for sale in any way, whether it be a club colorway, something for a spring fall collection, or for a competition.

Many people have asked about what happens to all of my rejected yarn, or if they can buy or have my rejects.  Let me just be clear: THE REJECTS ARE REJECTS FOR A REASON. You don't want them, just trust me.

Veering abruptly back on course: here are my long-labored over submissions to the Dye for Glory contest. These are all in different categories, so they're not competing against each other, they're competing against other entries in the same categories. Mabel's boysenberry pie doesn't compete against Edith's pickles, it competes against Millie's strawberry-rhubarb pie.

Starry Starry Night. Inspired by the synonymous painting. This is dyed in a new technique that will result in a highly varied finished product. The skeins are all one of a kind and very labor intensive to make -- they probably take ten times as long to make as a regular skein of yarn.

I stumbled upon this technique and finished product after making yet another blue and purple colorway that was completely uninspired and just picking up my tools and adding things to the yarn in a random way. That led to further ideas and prototypes, which led to the yarn you see now.



Several of you have already asked where you can get this colorway. I've decided to offer it here in an extremely limited edition of 20 skeins. This yarn will also only be available on superwash yarns, because that's going to give you the best result with the most dynamic color variation.

I've added a button for purchasing below. Please get this colorway while you can, it's very special, I promise. You may notice that the price is higher than our usual prices -- this is due to the extremely labor-intensive method of dyeing these skeins.

This is a pre-order. The skeins will be available to ship in September.

 

SOLD OUT -- thank you, everyone! I hope you'll enjoy your Starry Starry Night!

 

My other baby is Sea Anemone. This was inspired by a book I was reading to my young daughters, and I fell in love with the illustrations -- they were so vibrant and whimsical but retained some of the characteristics of the real under-sea creatures they depicted.

Take note of the marbling in the pink and orange sections. This is also a very labor intensive process, as the marbling has to be created by hand to ensure two distinct colors, and not just the by-product of bright pink and bright orange mixing together (red). We're taking limited edition pre-orders of Sea Anemone, for shipment in September.

SOLD OUT -- Thank you, everyone! I hope you'll love your Sea Anemone!

 

Zephyr. I love the sound of the word, and I love the colorway.

 

It has some touches of grey. Does this look turquoise to you? Because it shouldn't. It's a medium blue. Adjust your monitors.

 

Want some Zephyr for yourself? It will be available for a limited time, and then it will go back into the vault.

 

Click here for Zephyr.

 

Next is Alchemy. Alchemy definitely has a magical feel with its deep purples, touches of green, and mosaics of black.

 

 

Alchemy should pool very little when you're knitting. If you're familiar with our dyeing techniques, this is similar to Madigan.

 

 

 

If you want some Alchemy for yourself, please visit this link.

 

Masquerade uses another technique to mitigate pooling, a phenomenon that I love but some people loathe.

 

Deep cobalt blue, purple, pink, and amber gold.

 

I used blue instead of black to accent these colors.

 

 

Here's where you go to get some Masquerade.

 

This is one of my favorites. Georgia Peach. I love foodie colorways.

 

 

Mmmmm.

 

 

Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeere's Georgia!

 

Father Time reminds me of something very retro-mod masculine. I heart it.

 

It looks quite different twisted this way, doesn't it?

 

 

Here's where you can find Father Time.

 

And finally, Estuary. Because I think it's Estuary-ish, don't you? I love the melding of these shades.

 

 

 

Anything with aqua makes me happy. Perhaps you feel differently. You're entitled to your wrong opinion, that's OK with me. Whoops, did I say what I was thinking again?

 

 

To see more about Estuary, visit this page. 

 

If you've gotten to the end of this tome, thank you for reading. And thank you for voting in Dye for Glory, a competition which involves neither physics nor athletics, but a good competition all the same.

(Voting has started and lasts until August 1st! Click here to vote for your favorites.)

Comments

[Neel]

I just love the "sea anemone" dye - I'm so sad that you're sold out... can't you e-mail me or something if you dye it up again...?

[Claire]

Found your blog today via voting on Rav. Voted for a couple of your entries. Seriously beautiful yarns. I am so very impressed. My fave is Estuary. Glad to have found your blog. Will be checking in from time to time! Best of luck on the voting! You definitely deserve prizes! :-)

[Loraine]

Lovely, lovely. Not an orange fan but the Georgia Peach looks like a real Georgia peach, which I think have a distinctive look all to their selves.

Exclusive soaker colorways, here they come. :-))

What a great contest to let out such a proliferation of talents. Dye for Glory, excellent.

[Pat Dixon]

Darn, Sea anemone is gone. Loved it voted for it. All your color are so yummy!

[Valerie]

Congratulations on your many Dye for Glory wins! Your entries are gorgeous and the wins are well-deserved!

I kept looking for Starry Starry Night on there, because I think it's one of the most gorgeous skeins ever. But I'm glad Georgia Peach made it.

Anyway, congrats congrats congrats! And congrats to all the lucky knitters that got a preorder slot for those lovely yarns.

[A Sabbatical from Sabbatical:]

[...] the Dye for Glory competition on Ravelry and fell in love with the Estuary colorway (scroll through this post for all of Three Irish Girls Dye for Glory colorways – gorgeous!) (I might mention that I [...]

[Dorsey Fedder]

It is useful to try everything in practice anyway and I like that here it's always possible to find something new. :)