Sock Blank Experiment I thought was a Fail !!

I have been meaning to have a go at dyeing sock blanks to make a pair of socks that was identical. The usual way is to use a knitting machine, so I had to improvise by hand knitting! yes I know boring............ Anyway this is what I did using some Skeinz undyed sock yarn. I cast on 6o stitches after a bit of maths which I am not great at and 6mm needles I had first split the skein into 2 50 gr balls and knitted two strands together. It mindless knitting while you are watching TV. I put a running thread through the blank like this

This was done so I could try and make stripes one half being black, i was figuring on having

2 rows of stripes per 30 stitches. Even though I got most of the water out prior to dyeing the black bled for a couple of inches and all the other colours seems to merge so much I was contemplating throwing the whole thing out !!! Anyway I thought black socks would be okay but tedious to knit so carried on. This is what I was left with and it was so exciting seeing the colours emerge! My third attempt I decided to not be so precise and just ladled the colours on that I like and what I had already mixed up and this is how it started out

I have finished

one sock and I have labelled it Firecracker I wonder why! I am knitting up another blank this time using 80 stitches as this wool is a little thinner, will be interesting to see how it goes. Now what colors to use for this one!!