First Note

Yes, when I become obsessed with an idea, I cannot stop thinking about it. Since I dyed up the gradation yarns, I just couldn't wait to knit it up.  It took one swatch to come up with a lace border that I was happy with. Or more likely, I was not patient enough to fiddle with the lace design more. It looked good enough so I started my marathon knitting and finished the shawl in 2 days.

I watched a few documentaries on Netflix, finished the series "Hidden" and almost finished with "State Within."  Hidden was well acted. but my small brain just did not get the ending. I was so confused. And the series wasn't so enticing that I wanted to analyse the plot any further. State Within has interesting plot but rather cliche in the stereotyping of Americans. But I'm very drawn into the storyline.  I need to come up with another design to finish the last 2 episodes.

To answer the question of how I dyed the yarn, I used pre-knitted sock blank from wool2dye4, and dipped dyed each section in pots of dye.  Then I moved the blank (it comes like a long scarf) back and forth in the bath where sections merge to get a better transition. I then set the color with citirc acid. Simple and quick, though not too perfect, yet.
I obviously could perfect my method more if I had more blanks to experiment with. Some of the dark area could probably be squeezed a bit by hands to get the colors more evenly.

In the end I realized  gradation yarn really does not show off lace design well.  The flashiness of yarn takes over the visual effect.  The lace gets lost visually.

It was fun though, a good way to jump start my summer after few lazy weeks.  School ends this week, yeepee!!!  I've been telling my students that I'm more excited about the end of semester than they are.  It's fun to watch them being scandalized by this revelation.