2 lbs ugly yarn + ???

I'm going to try swatching Dragon Skin in some stash yarn I have with an eye to making a vest for the Viking. I suspect, however (on the basis of a few rows, and but I will wait a little longer before declaring it) that the yarn is a shade too fine for size 4 needles, and while I may be daft as a brush I will not knit a garment for the Viking on needles smaller than 4s. I just won't. It's one thing to be a queen of unfinished projects, it's another to start projects knowing full well that they'll drive you bonkers and force you to abandon them.

The yarn in question is a cotton-silk blend, on a cone (large cone, perhaps 2 lbs), in a colour labelled 'green tweed.' I suspect I must have bought it from Webs some time ago. It is lovely soft yarn, just slightly slubby. I probably bought it with the idea of weaving with it, but it knits beautifully. It would make a wonderful summer shawl.

Why am I not making a summer shawl with it?

The colour is appalling. It's tweedy, all right, but it's green only insofar as you might class certain shades of olive as green, although this olive errs more to the side of mud-grey. I have no idea what I was thinking when I bought it.

The Viking likes it. I can't imagine why, but de gustibus non disputandum. He likes camouflage-worthy shades of brown and green. He likes the colour of this yarn.

I could, I suppose, overdye it, or try. Skein off a bit, make a call to Dharma Trading, see what happens. Procion dyes work on silk and cotton, so that's not a problem. And goodness knows I have enough I could make something for the Viking with it and still have plenty left to experiment with.

The trick would be picking what colour to use for the overdye attempt. Given the general tone of the yarn, darker will probably be better. Green would be a logical colour choice but yegods I have a lot of green already. Reds, I suspect, would just go muddy, and I am not sure blue would be successful either. A dark chocolate brown would probably work, but then I would have to give the finished product to someone else to wear. Black seems like a cop out.

I am inexplicably drawn to the 'black cherry' colour on the chart. I'm not entirely sure that would work over the olive-mud-grey, but I do like the colour.

Anyone out there ever played with overdying ugly yarn? Advice? Suggestions?

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