1) try using the original Dharma Emerald green in a lower concentration for a lighter green.
2) try again using the ProChem Spring green - I kept looking at this sample and it grew on me. I had washed one of the two sleeves in Synthrapol (crazy good detergent for use before and after dyeing). Although initially it appeared to have made no change, once the sample dried, it was definitely a different, less teal type color. I kind of liked it.
So my original mission on 1/20/10 was to try and do the Spring Green again. Initially I thought it still looked all teal-y and horrible. This turned out to be a good thing, b/c I started dyeing with the two emerald dyes and ended up leaving the Spring green in the soda ash wash (you use soda ash to set the dye) for nearly an hour. And it yielded a very pretty color.
And so did the Dharma Emerald Green. And the Pro Chem Emerald Green - well, I actually don't like it so much anymore. Unfortunately it's pretty much impossible to convey the true colors through photos. To look at this, the bottom skein, which is the Pro Chem Emerald Green is by far the prettiest, but in real like it's a little too yellow I think.
The Dharma Emerald is in the middle and the ProChem Emerald is on top (and it's looking blue again. Sheesh. It doesn't look that way in real life). I've been carrying these three skeins around with me all day, looking at them in different lights, etc.
I think what I'm going to need to do is knit another swatch and then dye the swatches and see how that goes. But I feel hopeful. Hopeful! A night of dyeing and I actually could live with and/or actively like all of the results. Hooray!
I also started knitting a new sample sleeve - I was very industrious on 1/20/2010. This new sleeve is based on the idea of knitting the sleeve back and forth (so the pattern is perpendicular to my shoulder) and simply binding off or decreasing on either end to taper the sleeve, as opposed to the original sleeves I knitted, where I started with just a couple of stitches and then increased out in pattern to the widest point, then decreased again at the other end. Hm. That was surprisingly hard to describe in writing. I'll have to take a picture.
I was thinking of doing up cap like sleeves for my dress as well, but if I do, I think I will do it using short rows. Of course I am not really planning on doing a lacy sleeve, so that makes things easier for me. I will be interested in seeing how your sleeves come out.
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