from easter eggs to aubusson?

when we dyed our easter eggs (the ones to eat, not the painted ones!), we had some leftover dye in the mugs and I decided to use it up by painting some nz lambswool tops. I wetted them well, spread them on some clingfilm, sprinkled over the dye with syringes and hoped for the best. well, the colours were quite strong at first and mixing all 5 (blue, green, red, yellow and orange) in one top seemed a bit daring! but after steaming them (rolled up in the plastic on a sieve) it turned out that even though none of the dye washed out, the colours were more pastel than intense.... no easter egg garishness - rather aubusson faded colours! after I spun it into a singles, I wanted to ply it, but not on itself.... I looked through my stash, mused about spinning another yarn in either black or dark blue - but decided eventually to use up some naturally beige tussah silk (commercially spun!) I received from a friend some time ago. the fluffy soft singles yarn and the non-elastic silk make for an interesting ply, because the wool blooms and the silk stays smooth! when I saw the "spirogyra" pattern (gauntlets or wrist warmers/fingerless mitts) from the latest knitty I figured that my yarn in soft colours might go nicely with it. and it does, at least I like the way it knits up so far! the beige silk doesn't give a harsh contrast and I think the gauntlets will go well with all kinds of other colours.... the pattern is very simple to knit - at least it would be if I didn't constantly try to add another yarnover right beside the decrease:) I figure that by the time I'll finish the gauntlets - I will remember - just to do the mistake viceversa with the next lace project! only one thing to do about it - pick another pattern where yarnovers and ssk aren't directly side to side:) but maybe I should just get down to it and do the blocking of the "pretty as a peacock" first?

and when I thought that I could calculate the next project - kilcarra in red for a leafy sweater - the latest spinoff arrived - argh, why do spinners invent new interesting things all the time? the core yarn is so tempting, that I am glad that my wheel bobbins are empty just now - I might give it a try tomorrow!