Not What I Expected

I have been waiting to try this pinafore knitting pattern until I had dyed the perfect yarn. I didn't even know what colors I wanted. I kept searching Etsy and Hyena Cart for hand-dyed yarns to use as inspiration, but so far hadn't found anything. Then, yesterday I saw a little cotton shirt that had such a great mix of colors I knew I had my inspiration! I quickly wrote down the colors and couldn't wait to get a chance to make some magic. Well, I had a few free hours after dinner last night and it looked like a chemist's shop in my kitchen. I mixed and poured and had about 20 jars of not-quite-right colors (and I was only trying for 3 main colors). I knew I didn't have what I wanted, but the yarn was prepped and I had all those jars of colors... The result:

I think it looks Tye-dyed. My husband said it looked Aztec or Native American (minus the aqua, which he didn't think looked right, and which is my favorite part). My 12-y-o said it looked like a tropical bird of some kind. I think he meant a macaw, but he said something else funny that I can't remember now. My 16-y-o came in this afternoon and said how pretty it was. I liked his comment the best. My toddler had no comment, but he did learn to say "yarn" very early on. He says it more like "yon". I wonder why this word was learned before so many others. Could it have been the repeated, "don't touch that, that's mama's yarn," which I always say in the sweetest of voices? At any rate, this yarn which was designated for dyeing for this particular project is now dyed and will be used as designated. I only hope the intended recipient likes bright colors!