So that His blood could Un-Zerg Us

Reposting I think the best post I ever wrote.

http://makingrivendell.blogspot.com/2013/09/of-zerg-and-protoss-or-why-jesus-came.html

Of Heroes and Singing Crocodiles

Isaiah wanders around the backyard, purposefully, carrying this watergun and singing his rendition of Mumford and Son's "The Cave". He's being "Jim". All from here.

 Its amazing how stories, especially stories of heroes, shape a kid.   Any man in a mech suit, or anything that could resemble a mech suit (generic astronauts) are "Jim." It makes his "Reach for the Stars" shirt with a astronaut that much cooler, its his "Jim shirt."

He also loves Captain America, and Saint George, sometimes conflating the two, with Captain America killing a dragon.

We had a day that was cold enough for me to subject them to their hats. Keziah would have none of it, but Jenny obliged.

Grandpa was teaching Isaiah how to hit the T-ball. Jenny kept being disturbed whenever Isaiah knocked the ball off the stand. "No, duh ball be ON"

Keziah was oblivious to the dilemma. Now that she was free of the tyranny of the hat, all was well.

On a sunnier day, I decided to photograph some of the circlets I was working on for my etsy shop (yet to be opened). Her is my Arwen Evenstar, modeling them for me.

After I was done photographing Arwen, I turned and saw Keziah, looking at me for moral reflection, as she pondered going after a fallen orange....You know she is figuring out forbidden and not-forbidden at this point, give the little guilty look she shoots you before she goes into the cat water dish or picks up a fallen orange...

Keziah also bounced up and down whenever we pray (we sing Praise God for dinnertime, and various other tunes for lunch, etc). She even stops fussing for food, and silently bounces, often with a big grin on. It is her contribution.

The other day, Jenny heard the whine of a machine.
Jenny: Mommy, what is going on? Is dat a crocodile singing?
Me: No, I think its a lawnmower
Jenny: (very confidently) No, its a crocodile singing.

Isaiah continues to make up stories and retell stories, often reapplying them to various situations in his life. The other day, I was in the other room, and I heard Jenny getting very upset.

Jenny: "Mommy! Idaiah took the peawls fwom Gamma Beawr!!"

He usually doesn't go after her stuffed animals, much less their jewelry. I voiced some commands and threats, no response.

I went into the other room, and saw him holding the pearls and a pair of toy pliers, oblivious to the indignant Jenny, saying to himself "...an a pair of scissors cut duh pearls, and two flour covered hands caught duh pearls..." (From Richard Scarry's The Great Steamboat Mystery)

Stories, they make such a huge part of his world....

Of Helmets and Heroes

Isaiah loves heroes. The only movie he would watch at the advanced age of 1.5 yrs was Captain America. So Captain America was watched 17 times in one week, as we tried to pack up and move our lives across the country.

This is Jenny, but you get the picture....

And then it was 'Wuke Skywalker!' of which I have only ever let him see Ep IV, because it is a 'bright world' (like Captain America 1), and only when Daddy is present. Daddy's presence seems to repel fear.

But Josh (at Isaiah's request) has told him as bedtime stories a good amount of the other two, of which "Wuke en de MONSTER" is a bedtime favorite. So much so, that Jenny has it memorized as well. Josh says "Luke was riding his--" Jenny belts out "TON TON" Josh continues "And he says--" Isaiah continues "what duh matter? you smeww somefing?" etc etc. and on it goes with the Snow Monster's entrance, the demise of the Ton-Ton, and the near demise of Luke (as the Snow Monster prepares his pots and pans to eat Luke for dinner), and the triumph as Luke retrieves his lightsaber and cuts of the monsters arm.

Josh animated a pillow, to make it the Snow Monster in the Cave (a blanket he arranged in a heap) and Isaiah whapped it with his pool tube lightsaber.

Now are days are filled with such gems as Isaiah proclaiming, "MOMMY! I'm gonna cook you en eat you for dinner!" while whapping me with his lightsaber.

Or other Star Wars gems, as in "I'm gonna cut off your arm!!"

Or, during his obsession with his lego knight action figure he names "Daddy", I overheard him making up stories as he played.

"...en den Daddy pushed Capun America down to duh Sarlac!"
But he still loves Captain America. And Daddy. So maybe Daddy was just having a bad day.

And then there was the time he saw my sister's Avengers poster. (He has never actually seen Iron Man in a movie. I wonder what he's like in Isaiah's imagination, because I overhear him telling stories with Iron Man's name in them).

He would silently stand before it, and then, with wide worshipful eyes, carefully reach out and touch the Iron Man's glowing hand, reverently, like the Stigmata.

It was then I realized we needed more stories about Jesus in his roundup....

Recently, he's taken to watching certain videos on my computer on am almost daily basis. (I confess, it gives me time to do things such as this blog, on the computer).

And he'd taken to holding the Peg Board on his head (sand pegs), and insisted on calling it "my helmet."

 I couldn't for the life of me figure out why it was a helmet, until Josh overheard him (while holding it to his head, singing "DOVAKHIIN, DOVAKHIIN..."




So now we all know what is going through his head, and why the pegboard is shaped like a helmet.....

Isaiah being a firefighter. That is what he says.

And then, very often he puts on his white bicycle helmet, and carries around his pooltube lightsaber, and solemnly starts singing garbled heartfelt words, such as "wefwesh my broken mind!"
Along with his own interpretation of instrumentation and words to the tune of Mumford and Sons "The Cave."




All while solemnly charging about the room with his bike helmet and a lightsaber. Very Solemnly. As if he feels the weight of responsibility.
(And he will watch that movie over and over and over. Right now, he saw me embedding this and now we've just watched it 4x so I can get this post up...but seriously, I love Wings of Liberty....and its good for him, I think)

Isaiah's serious face.

He's also obsessed with "Bowuwf en duh big bwue monster!" which is Beowulf, as told to him by Aunt Bekah. Again. And Again. And Again. (I think her record is repeating it 6x in a row...on request)

And of course this wouldn't be complete with some pictures of the other kids....
Jenny stole Isaiah's peach. And then burst into a spontaneous rendition of "Pwaise God fwom whom aww bwessings fwoww!!!"

Of Zerg and Protoss: Or, Why Jesus Came to Die

So today in church, we were singing about how Jesus died for us. How He paid it all, how sin had left a crimson stain, and He washed it white as snow.

And I was thinking about StarCraft 1 and Brood War, how Jim's friend Sarah gets infested and turned into a Zerg queen. And in StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty, how Jim cares so much more about Sarah being unzerged, than if he dies in the attempt.

What Zerg are like...what Jim had to fight on their homeworld, Char

 How he fights his way into the mouth of Hell (Char) and faces swarms of Zerg, faces Zerged Sarah (Queen of Blades) mocking him how she's going to kill/infest him, all for the slimmest crazy chance that she might be uninfested, made her true self again.

Sarah Kerrigan, Zerged, or "Queen of Blades"

And how in the antithetical (and shoddy) sequel StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm, all of a sudden zerg-infestation is supposed to be fine (sweeping the 8 billion deaths, atrocities, and people going mad from horror under the rug) and dandy, and ol' judgmental Jim just has to learn to embrace the Zerg or he's not being nice to Sarah.That he has to accept her Zerged self, or he's rejecting her.

And I was muttering to myself, of how antithetical Heart of the Swarm was to Wings of Liberty (and StarCraft 1 and Brood War...).
How in Wings of Liberty, Jim absolutely hates the Zerg, how he hates what Sarah has done as Queen of Blades (he grieves over the 8 billion people she killed, plus some of his friends), and yet, he loves Sarah. He carries around her picture of her before she was Zerged, and throws his life away on the slimmest unproven glimmer of a chance, that she can be purified, and made herself again.

And I was thinking, how the refusal to see a distinction between the sin/disease and the person/true self/soul, is a very common malady in our culture. The example that came to mind, is how gay friends tell you that in not accepting their lifestyle, you aren't accepting them. To condemn their lifestyle, is to be hateful, is to be personally reject them. If you love them, the only option is to accept homosexuality as fine and say nothing's wrong. Even if you know it's hurting them.

And then, as we sang how Jesus died to save us from our sins, it hit me.

Homosexuality is not something I struggle with, and so it seemed so clear to me how hating the sin is not hating the person who struggles with it.
But what about the multitude of my own sins? I minimize them. I think its not such a big deal. I resent God for insisting my sin has such colossal magnitude, for being so demanding in setting such a high price for their forgiveness, but hey, at least He was willing to pay for it. Um, Okay God, I guess my sin deserved death and hell and all. Whatever you want, name the price. At least I'm off the hook now, with your crucifixion and all....

I don't really see my sins for the horror of what they truly are.

When we say "Jesus died to save us from God's eternal punishment of Hell" or "Jesus died to satisfy the wrath of God" we miss the point, we only see the half, and that the lesser half.

It is infinitely preferable to be nuked by the quarantining Protoss (they purge infected worlds), than to be infested by Zerg.

The purging Protoss, they try to quarantine the Zerg virus

The first stages of Zerg infestation

 Jesus didn't so much come to make sure the mean ol' Protoss don't nuke us. He came to save us from Zergness. From infestation. From sin. 

 I get that Zerg infestation is horrific. It makes my soul shudder. Not so much for what they look like---they get mutated more and more into monsters--- but for what they do while infested---slaves to obeying the Overmind/Queen of Blades, killing and destroying life, infecting other humans.

Sin (my sin!) is like Zerg Infestation. Its really that gross. That soul eating. That mind-twisting. That diabolical. That horrific. And only Jesus, only God, really sees it to the depth of what it is, sees and feels the horror of what it is. Knows what it is, as only his uninfected eyes can truly see.


First, He made Himself unpopular, by telling us we got issues.

 I like being Zerg. You've got a problem with that?! (Kerrigan, zerged, Brood War)

 

And Jesus came here. To our world, to people like us, who didn't think there was that much of a problem with it, Isn't God a bit harsh in the Law, meting out death for bowing to a little idol, alternate sexual choices, cheating on your wife, and hitting your Dad? Hey Jesus, why are you making such a big deal with lust and money and all? And why are you getting rid of easy divorce?! If this is how strict you're gonna be, its better not to get married...If my hand causes me to sin, cut it off?!? Sheesh. Jesus, you're so...high-strung about all this.


And he felt the abomination of it all as only the Protoss feel the horror of the Zerg-infestation, as only one with such clear uninfected, all knowing, pure eyes could see it. He saw it, he felt it, for what it was.

And He took that sickness, that makes his soul shudder in horror and wrath....

And He took it on Himself.

He who knew no sin, became sin for us.
He bore our transgressions.
Took the unclean thing upon Himself, bearing the full weight of its horror, and then died as the sacrifice.

So that His blood could un-Zerg us.

So that we could be our true selves again. The way He meant for us to be.

Sarah Kerrigan's true self, Jim's picture.

Thoughts on Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty (SPOILERS, so do not read if you ever are going to play it, bc its worth it.)

            So when Josh played Star Craft 1 and it pulled me in. True, I didn't at first like Raynor that much, even though he was a sheriff he gave off a little of the 'bad boy' and 'not respecting authority' vibe, (which I found annoying). But I liked his actions. I liked how his MO was saving the civilians, so he went against his (corrupt, bureaucratic) authorities, and kind of accidentally joined the rebels, so he could save his people. Then he falls in love with a cute-bantering-intelligent special ops girl over a comm link, who knows how he feels because she's kinda telapathic (insert Hannah's snarky comments to Josh about how how this is tailored to shy/nerdy teenage boys here). They work together, and are friends. And then...she is given a stupid order. And he (stuck somewhere else) is trying to persuade her, over the commlink, not to obey it. And she tells him that she's fine, thank you, and makes some witty comment about how he shouldn't try his (sexist?) knight in shining armour routine here.  Then she gets betrayed and taken by the Zerg, given up for dead. And he's torn apart. And then he has a dream, that she's asking him to come back to the planet that she died, that she's still alive. So he goes, and finds she's been 'infested'/zombie-fied in a way/zergified. Its like finding your loved one possessed. (exactly in fact). And he swears (though to me it sounded like a prayer) 'Mother of God, Kerrigan, what have they done to you?') And she answers him with the possessed self, telling him she's powerful now etc... And (as he is surrounded) he says (with irony? They never dated, and Kerrigan is the kind of independent women who I don't think likes being called darlin') 'So what are you going to do darlin, kill me?'  But there is enough left in her that she lets him go. Ok, so it was sad. He is betrayed by the Terrans (leaders anyway, who are complete skunks playing with the lives of their people), he cares about the Terran civilians, he HATES the invading killing Zerg (but loves a Zerg Captain e.g. Kerrigan), so he ends up siding with splinter faction of the alien Protoss who fight the Zerg, try not to kill the humans (unlike the main faction of the Protoss) and try to defend their homeplanet. He's fighting against Kerrigan, against the Terrans, but because he loves civilians, because he cares. (Now that wouldn't be so bad, its sad. But the exile defending the people who hate him thing) He's an exile with the exiled Protoss faction, who like him, have gotten into trouble for trying to protect (or in the Protoss' case, not purge) the Terrans. So he's lost his people, the girl he likes, but at least he has a cause, and fellow (alien) exiles to share it with.                                                               Then Josh played Brood War, and it about busted my heart.  Due to being caught between 2 evils, Raynor has to pick the lesser of 2 evils to form a shifting alliance with, trying to save what is precious. (There was so many betrayals, spies, and levels of double-triple spy and intrigue it felt like a strategic version of a soap opera. I don't think this story line was as well written) But even worse Kerrigan's mind is freed from the overmind, but she acts like the devil. She wants revenge, wants power. She brutally gets on top, using (and killing) Protoss in a pretended repentance. Using (and killing his best friend) Raynor in more pretended good will. She knew (even though he was suspicious) that deep down, not even admitted to himself, that he's hoping she can change. After she uses them, and kills Raynor's (fellow exiled) Protoss buddy, Raynor gets very angry, and promises her he is going to kill her. (This feels a lot less soap opera-y that it sounds. Its not like a lovers fight, since they were never lovers, just friends. And its more of an admission that he thinks there isn't much 'Sarah' left, mostly a ruthless 'Queen of Blades' that uses the Sarah part to get power). So I hated Brood War. All my hope of Kerrigan repenting was destroyed. She faked repentance to get what she wanted, she used and killed people using their hope/pity, she ruthlessly got to the top, she delighted in other peoples suffering. I said the only next thing for her to do was build a little hell to torture people. So Kerrigan was turning into the devil, and Jim just lost his exile Protoss buddy, AND is watching the girl he likes get worse, AND the Terran gov't are still run by ever-increasingly-evil creeps, AND not only is the Protoss homeworld destroyed, the exile colony is ripped apart by Kerrigan's power plays, AND there is introduced an abomination of Zerg-Protoss genetic experiment. I was mad. And sad.                                                                                                            
            Then Josh got Star Craft 2, Wings of Liberty. Well, the tag line on the booklet got to me
"Jim Raynor has led a resistance movement known as Raynors Raiders against the spreading power of the dominion but over the years it has been a losing battle. Arcturus Mengsk[h-the old rebel leader who betrayed Kerrigan to the Zerg, and became the govt] has used his greatest weapons--the media and propaganda to maginalize Raynor's efforts. Now Raynor seems to be losing faith, drinking heavily and haunted by the ghosts of his past. Those who know Jim Raynor best have been saying that there is one part of him that won't rest until Sarah Kerrigan is dead... ...and another part of him that refuses to let her go." 
         Its a truth always on the scaffold, wrong always on the throne. The rebels that really just cared about power, and that see people as things to be used, are in power. The guy that wants to defend civilians ends up a marginalized despised-by-the-people criminal/exile. And the media does its part. (hmmmmm this reminds me of something...) And he's losing faith, but still kinda, almost not admitted to himself, still hopes. As the game starts, they do a little explaining to Raynor's slight bad-boy tone and yet steel spine from Star Craft 1. They imply Raynor had a quasi-criminal past, and a criminal buddy took the fall for him. Then he because a sheriff for backwater town (tough image), but really really loved defending the people. (There's a child's card thanking Sheriff Raynor in scrawled crayons, and his old sheriff badge, along with a photo of Sarah Kerrigan from the old days, pinned up against the wall.) It seems he perhaps had a rough childhood, but at his first exposure to defending people and being on the side of justice and truth he really loved it.                                                                                                                          (Convict buddy 'How did you (with rough past) become sherriff?'  Raynor says something like '(Head of law enforcement) was counting on his rough image. then says 'When I was sheriff, I never had to kill anybody (in this sort of awe/happy way)' convict 'must not have been fun' Raynor is silent.) So his convict buddy Finley comes out, still all convict-y, (with a truly awful obscene pin up girl type of image painted on to his armor). Raynor is kind to him, because they were old friends and Finley took the fall for him. But Raynor is different than Finley. He carries Sarah's picture of her face, so full of life and personhood, while Finley reduces women to hormone highs in his picture. (I still do not know what that creepy holograph was doing in the bar on the Hyperion. I'm pretty sure Raynor wouldn't put there. I think it was there to be a 'bar', and to frame over Finley's shoulder when he berates Raynor for not having one night stands, when there's so many 'missed opportunities. Raynor shrugs him off).  And when Finley proposes they hunker down throughout a Zerg invasion, and look out for themselves, Raynor fights with him, and says no, they will do what they can to save people. Finley is the essence of the criminal mind, rules/society don't matter, its all about what you can get out of it (people, situations). Its all about him, and his desires. Raynor is the essence of heroism, its all about the other people, he sacrifices so much, to save the civilians. Its all spoken in his badge, the kids's card, and the picture of his dead loved one on the wall. (even if he came from a rough childhood, this is what matters to him). Then there's Horner, the clean cut, good kid, law and justice. He's the foil to Finley, Raynor's other friend. But he's very young, 20s-ish. He despises Finley, but respects Raynor (even though Raynor looks more like Finley, old tattoos and all, his soul isn't. He's self-sacrificial, not boiling down all other humans and society to whatever he can get out of it). I love how they are friends (H: be careful R: Careful is my middle name H: I thought it was Eugene R: Shutup, James)
           But Raynor is falling apart. His cause seems to be going no where (he needs funds, people, etc), Kerrigan looks gone evil forever, his Protoss buddies are long gone. He keeps drinking, but still tries to do what he can, collect research things for a group willing to pay him, so he can get money to fund his efforts. Its not like he's unsuccessful. He is able to save a bunch of civilians abandoned by the govt, and relocate them to safety.  And (while drinking by himself) he gets a vision of his Protoss buddy, who brings him a cryptic message that only Kerrigan can save the world. He keeps drinking. Horner finds him drunk (he's dreaming about Kerrigan being betrayed) and tells him that "What happened to Kerrigan, its not your fault" "Which part, her being left behind, or her killing 9 billion people?"                                   
                                                        
  You know the things she has done, the people she has killed, really really bothers him. They aren't just statistics to him. But he still cares about her, even when though what she is doing tears him up. Then Horner throws him his badge, and says they are counting on him. Jim holds his badge, staring at it. Its what he does, trying to save civilians.
         Then comes the hope, the slimmest chance, yet untested, that they may be able to unzergify her. But he will have to ally himself with the son of his nemesis, who is probably using him (sitting safely up on high, watching the invasion via telecom), and will have to fight his way into hell, probably die, all just to try it out.
        And he's got other options. He meets a girl, very much like the pre-zerged Kerrigan, a ninja sort, extremely cute with that kind of cute bantering personality (though she's kinda deadly...). And then there's also the doctor, an intelligent girl with a good heart, who is compassionate,who respects him ("you're a good man, Jim Raynor") who he could marry and start over fresh, helping her save/govern her colony. (This scene, he does a marvelous job of diffusing romantic tension. Starts to smoke and says 'guys like me don't get a second chance. We just have to finish what we started).  So there's other chances for him to marry a cute, cute-personality, intelligent, NORMAL girl with an actual chance at happiness. Kerrigan is destroyed, she's lost her mind, her cute personality, her body (completely destroyed by zerg infestation), and one wonders, her soul? (she's become so evil). When he embarks on the crazy mission, its not like he's (as Horner accuses him) 'risking all our lives just to get your girlfriend back'  (He gives his crew a choice to join him or not) But its not like its about him getting her back. Her mind and body and all the 'perks' everything cute and nice about her is gone. And he will most probably die. Its about saving her soul. He's trying to save the only thing that may be left, her soul, because he loves her soul. With all the perks of romance gone, with all that makes us attracted to someone stripped away (and offered in other people) he chooses to fight his way into hell, in the sliver of a chance it will save the world, and, Kerrigan's soul. And he's willing to be the pawn of Mengsk (who will most probably turn on him once he does it) for that.
           And he goes. He fights his way into hell and loses so much, death left and right. And he does it. And he goes into the cave where she is, and sees her lying on the ground. (Back when Zarratul confronts zergified Kerrigan, she is powerful, evil, even kinda armor-like 'sexy' in that tough inhuman way (the spine high heels), she is 'bring on the end, we'll all die anyway' despair and power.) But now she is  almost dead, so weary, no armor, no power, weak, vulnerable, human, naked like a baby (her feet are human again, not shod with spines), like a second birth. And so weary, so helpless (not the powerful queen of blades). And he calls her name, "Sarah". And she's helpless, and almost gets shot, just lying there, too tired to move away from the bullet sightings (perhaps her human self not that defensive from death, after all she's been through) And has to kill Finley to stop him from killing her for his freedom. And he picks her up and carries her out into the light, she calls his name so tired and confused "Jim?" And he answers "Its ok, I've gotcha" and keeps walking into the light. And she looks so so so tired. And he looks at her face, she looks at his, and he looks up and out toward the light, carrying her toward the light. And then just finally able to rest, trustingly falls asleep. And he's carrying her out into the light, you see her bare feet flopping,  flesh (not with spine high heels armor), vulnerable, human.(to me she didn't look attractive, just so human and so so tired) And my heart was so full. It felt like, against all the odds, he fought through hell, and as the fleets burned above them, traitors all around him, intrigue and spies and power plays an d crashing worlds all around him, and yet, them two, she was saved. Against all the odds. It was like, there is a God. There is a God who fights for Raynor even in all the political gods and using people and mess, out on the burning hills, under a burning sky with fighting airships, there she is , exhausted so so tired, and he, so so so so tired (finley dead etc), but she is saved.
        And you know everything is not hunkydory, that everything is such a mess and crazy with evil govt waiting for him, but  it is more then you ever hoped. The biggest, most impossible thing has happened, and the layers of spies and crashing empires and burning ships and all, are just cleaning up, are just aftermath. The biggest impossible thing has happened. And you feel like, there is a God. A God who fights for Jim, who gives Jim this huge honor that he could sacrifice that he could say 'its ok, I've gotcha' after so much suffering. (I remember wondering if that is how Jesus felt when he saved us.) It was better then I ever hoped for. I was so happy. So happy. (I guess it is the eucatastrophe Tolkien talked about) When the fabric of story rends, and you can see the light from the other side) I felt like the ring is destroyed, and you get Smeagol back. Or something. Against all odds, what shouldn't be save-able is saved, because there is a God.                                                                                   /(


Afterthoughts, Josh commented, he feels so--pure. Here he is holding a naked (h-vulnerable) woman he is attracted to, and He looks at her face, and then out up toward the light. God knows we need pure heroes. Who its about personhood, and God. Not selves and own desires, reducing people to hormone highs, but God, carrying people into the light. Josh also seemed to be moved at the subtle part where kerrigan finally rests. It says so much. Finally, trust, rest, there is a God, rest. Josh said, its like he goes from being carrot-y to vimes-y to carrot-y again. He regains faith.)                                        

Re-Dyeing the Wool, and StarCraft 2

         So I re-dyed the wool last night, as my husband played to the end of StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty. I tried to follow what I did last time, except I was lazy and skipped the measuring the water temp with the meat thermometer. Then I made a wild guess as to how much Sunshine Orange Rit dye I should use to transform my
              bluish 'Dark Green' --->'Olive Green' ,
             purplish 'Dark Brown'---> warm Dark Brown.
I thought a ration of 2 parts (green, or dark brown) to 1 part (sunshine orange), should do it. So fabric that had been dyed with, 4 oz.(1/2 cup) RIT dark green, I added to 2 oz. (1/4 cup) RIT sunshine orange. And fabric dyed with 1/2 cup RIT dark brown, I added 1/4 cup RIT sunshine orange.
       Then in the pivotal 5 minutes, instead of stirring, I ran to watch a Star Craft cut scene/cinematic.
It was very tense, I wanted to know if Mengsk was going to turn on Raynor after depositing him in Hell/Char. And it was incredibly gripping, Raynor clinging to the hope that she could be exorcised, that there was something left of her, that he fight his way into the mouth of hell to find if there was some soul left.  Anyways. I didn't stir the wool.
      When I came back, the damage was done. The green came out very blotchy indeed, spots of greenish olive drab, and spots of orangey olive drab. More-ever my ratios were way off, I used WAYYY too much orange. I got olive drab instead of olive green. And I got something akin to burnt orange, instead of a warm brown. Also, I learned that when redying wool, as soon as you put it in hot water again, the old color starts to bleed out. Of course. The fibers are opening again. So I lost a lot of green and brown respectively.

This is before....

After, too much orange....

So I learned. Things to do next time

1. Don't be sloppy. Measure your water's temperature
2. STIR STIR STIR (even if it means doing dye batches one after another.)
3. NOT SO MUCH ORANGE.  Next time do 4 Dark Green: 1 Sunshine Orange to get olive green. Or maybe 6 Dark Green: 1 Sunshine Orange. (So 1/2 cup Dark Green, to 1-2 T. sunshine orange). And for the Dark Brown, just add a tad of orange. So 1/2 cup Dark Brown, to 1 T. Sunshine Orange.)
4. Mix all dyes the first time, so there is only one dying process. Otherwise your other colors bleed out into the dye water, and there's no telling what the real ratio absorbed was. And its harder to get the 2 tone blotches that way.
5. Don't try to watch Star Craft 2 while dyeing.

So thats what I learned. I think I will call it a day for my poor wool (its been dyed enough), and make the medieval dress out of it anyway. It isn't quite going to be the dressy medieval garment I had envisioned, prob look much more worn and ranger-y. (Josh brightly pointed out I could think of the blotches as Camo...) And the orangey cotehardie....Sigh. At least Burnt Orange looks good on me. I don't know what 'trim' to pair it with now. The gold looking stuff will look like a mustard 70's couch now. Thinking....

Oh yes, and Star Craft 2 was so intensely symbolic and felt...real. Better then a dress anyways.