Gorgonzola

Cheesehead II: Gorgonzola

This represents my first attempt at dying yarn. If I hadn't already been moved to painfully bad poetry by the last meathead (Cheesehead I), I would be breaking into verse right about now.

Dying yarn is incredible! The only thing that I could imagine to be better would be dying unspun fiber and then (gasp) spinning it myself! 'Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished. (There. I knew I could work in some verse at some point. That's Shakespeare, for those of you who have forgotten the To Be or Not To Be soliloquy that you had to memorize in high school. I, of course, remember it because it is all in line with my superfreaky need to be perceived as well-read. Whether or not I am well-read is another matter.) Back to the matter at hand...

I wound a skein of cream Lamb's Pride Bulky into a hank, pulled it into an irregular triangle, rubber-banded the points together and then dipped them into a pot of steaming hot Kool-Aid. Yummy! I used one packet of Berry Blue, one packet of Arctic Green Frost, and 1/4 packet of Grape. I let it sit for half an hour. The dye bath didn't go clear as the Kool-Aid dying directions say it will, but the yarn color was right.

After a rinse and dry, I had this hank of hunky loveliness. And then 1 1/2 hours later I had my Gorgonzola! So what does one use to embellish a hat named after such a fabulous cheese? Why pears, of course! First I tried beading a green pear. Didn't look right. It had too delicate of a look for all that bulky yarn--And I liked the idea of warm tones to contrast with those cool blue veins.

I cut a pear out of tan felt just to check for size, because I thought I might try to do another beaded pear with chunkier amber and bronze beads. But that little felt pear grew on me--So I dusted it with a some eyeshadow, glued on a stem, and here we are!

The children are whining something about "food" and "hunger" and "neglect". I suppose I should go...