FO: Dye-o-rama socks

Base Yarn: Louet Gems Fingering Weight, Color = Hand-dyed, 100 gms
Needles: 2.25mm / US1
Pattern: Toe-up 3x1 rib sock using the toe and heel from the Sydney Sock pattern


Project details on Ravelry

Nancy Roberts is a genius. She's the woman behind Machine Knitting To Dye For, a technique that has "inspired" more than one yarn company to sell similar products. It's a shame that none are mentioning her name or giving her credit.

But I will!

The basic idea is to knit "blanks", dye them, then knit the yarn into a finished garment. Jeni & Spinnity graciously invited me to participate in studio time that they booked with Nancy. With their guidance I planned and knit blanks with stripes in mind and then dyed them. 2 years later I finally got around to knitting matching socks from the blanks and they turned out beautifully.

Although you can now buy ready made sock blanks, my blanks were carefully crafted to have distinct stripes with very little bleeding of color between. If I were to do it all over again I'd make my own using the same technique.

I'd also like to thank Emy, my Dye-o-rama swap partner. These sock blanks were dyed with her in mind (a spare set in case I messed hers up) and if it wasn't for her penchant for purple, I might not have these purple/blue/magenta socks today.

So here they are, my Dye-o-rama sock-o-ramas.

For more details, take a look at these three blog posts.