Stripes

My inspiration for October was this fabulously textural Globe Thistle. The results are a little more loosely ‘inspired by’ than I usually do, but I got to use some techniques I haven’t done in a while, and the results are definitely interesting.

Our Fiber is Rambouillet, also known as French Merino. If you’d like to read more about the breed, click here. This is probably my favorite of the Merino type wools, it has a nice staple length and incredible bounce. I used an impressionistic painting method of dye application on this, concentrating the dark colors more at one end and adding more light toward the other end….putting in the purple globes as in the picture.

I actually tried including two other dark colors in the first batch, and decided it was too much. However, it made a great opportunity to send coordinating braids to (most of) the double fiber folk. Here are the two together:

The yarn this month is USA grown and processed Targhee. Read more about the Targhee breed here. Targhee is my second favorite of the Merino type breeds, it also has a very lofty bounce to it, and a great staple length. Superwash treated and blended with a bit of nylon for extra strength, and this makes a great sock yarn that is also good for other cold weather items like cowls and mittens.

I won’t do speckles with powders due to the respiratory risks, so I often like to experiment with how to get similar effects. There’s a lot of blending going on, so it isn’t sharp and tiny, but more like a Monet painting. I layered on the greens, blues, gold, coral, and purple colors multiple times…..when using this technique on superwash yarn, the yarn has 4 sides to paint!!

Here’s the skein I got to keep this month (yay for cone ends!), and I spent a little time making a swatch to give you an idea of how this might knit up. My tube is 64 stitches around, and there are two different gauges. The top half is at about 8 stitches per inch, and you can see a stronger green pooling stripe. The bottom half is about 9 stitches per inch, and the striping/pooling effect is not very strong.

Each skein is going to come out a bit different because of shifting while being painted and flipped and painted and flipped, so you might like to swatch before deciding on your sock pattern, also. Any change in stitch number, gauge, and pattern will affect the patterning. I like the look of the stronger green stripe, however I like the sturdiness of the fabric in the tighter gauge, so I will experiment further with using the tighter gauge but adding two stitches and see what happens.

Are you interesting in having a surprise each month? I have several sock spots, and finally some new fiber spots open! Come check out Tiger Club….try for a month, stay as long as you like.

I knew by the time this club arrived that the trees would start turning here, and I was right, we are getting gorgeous colors! Our neighborhood is full of sturdy oak trees, in fact these trees did great in the Derecho, while many maples did not fare as well (and on the day of shipping this club, one finally succumbed to its damage and took out our power for a few hours). I used this inspiration photo, but pulled my own color palette from it, focusing on the gold as well as the golden brown, and pulling in some of the grey to play off the gold and dark chocolate brown.

The yarn is ever favorite Journey, a beautifully smooth 4 ply sock weight with a nice amount of twist, in a Superwash Merino and Nylon blend. I hand painted the colors on this as a palindrome, so if you are interested in trying faux ikat on your loom, or knitting something that does planned pooling, this is your skein!

The wool is Shetland, a great medium wool perfect for plenty of projects that require a bit of softness, but also will take some wear. I dyed a blended gradient with this, but remember that you decide what the color will do in your yarn, so tear it up and do what you want! Shetland does great worsted or woolen, so smooth it down into worsted if you want to make something drapey, or try carding or blending board to make rolag, or even just fauxlags or spinning from the fold to get a semi-woolen yarn.

I have a few spots in the October Tiger Sock Yarn Club open if you’d like to join the fun. I will expanding the fiber club starting in November, so if you’ve been interested in that, please check back on November 1. I hope the weather is fine in your neck of the woods, we are hoping to get the kayaks out today for one final hurrah.

After a few hot weeks, we’ve settled into drizzle and cold…and are back in the routines of school and work. These hues of lavender and navy and gold lean fall for me, I enjoyed tweaking the suggested hues to make the greige a little more sage, and made a bit more pop with pink undertones in the purple.

The yarn is MCN 100, the cashmere toning it a bit cream which helped with the warm feeling of this yarn. It’s low immersion pour dyed, so there is a fair amount of variation between skeins where each created a resist for itself. It’s regular enough to make spiral stripes, with enough variation to keep it interesting. You could have fun trying a planned pooling project, or do a faux ikat on your rigid heddle loom. I think mine will become socks, as I’m wanting a number of new pairs. To that end, I did some swatching.

This is all the same number of stitches around, 64. I started at tension 7 on my Brother 930 knitting machine, which gave me about 7 stitches per inch, then decreased to tension 6 and finally to 5. I like to knit socks as tight as they will comfortably knit as they will last longer. I’m pretty happy with the size and hand of the tube at this tension, and the patterning is much more stripe-like than spiral. Experiment with your gauge, stitch number, and pattern to find what makes the yarn do something you find pleasing.

The fiber for August is Superwash BFL. I knew it would take these deep colors well, and play nice with the contrast colors next to each other. I dyed this ‘there and back’ in a variegated pattern. Feel free to tear it up and spin them in the order that makes you happy.

Join the fun! I have one Fiber Club spot, and a few Sock Club spots open through September 15th.

Misty Mountain Morning. The picture is captivating, and I was amused that there was already a yarn palette attached to it. I wanted to do a little something special for July, between 2020 being what it has been, and school starting soon, I wanted to be sure I had a little extra time to make this one. While I kept fairly true to the yarn examples, I blue-d up the teal and aspen a bit, and left out the saffron, letting the blending between the yellow and copper colors fill in that spot.

For fiber, I used Glitz, a blend of 70% Merino wool and 30% Firestar (trilobal nylon). The Firestar is pre-dyed in rainbow colors and blended with the merino. It gives the normally white wool a kind of silvery grey cast that makes the dyeing come out with a lot of depth. I love how it shifted the colors, and the bits of glitz are nice and not overwhelming. If you find one fiber or the other pulling out of your hand unevenly, I’d suggest spinning from the fold, or to make faux or real rolags.

The yarn is one I’ve been wanting to try for a while, and it was finally in stock when I was making an order. Shimmer is a blend of 80% Superwash BFL and 20% Firestar. I couldn’t quite catch the bit of subtle shimmer the firestar gives the yarn in the picture. The yarn runs about 430 yards for 100 grams. I dyed a gradient through the colors on this, in a fade kind of blending. This will be fun for a fall shawl, cowl, scarf, or other such project.

My apologies for not getting reveal up sooner, between waiting for the USPS to deliver club, and then the Derecho knocking power out for a few days (we’re fine, our house is a little beat up, nothing major), it’s been another typical month of 2020!

Want to join Tiger Club? I have a few Sock spots open through August 15th!

It’s been hot here the past week or so, and makes me long for sugar sand and a day beach combing for shells and beach glass. I took these three colors, a soft blue, green, and amber, and had some fun with two very different bases for very different results.

Panda (a blend of SW Merino, Bamboo Rayon, and Nylon) has a great subtle sheen, and a tendency toward pastels, which was perfect for the colors I wanted. I applied the colors randomly, then smooshed to blend before heat setting. The colors continued to migrate, giving the skeins an over all sea-green look, but up close you can see the subtle blue, green, and amber….and even some bright flecks where the fluorescent yellow split from its blend.

Our wool is Perendale. The breed was created in New Zealand for hilly country, and is a cross of Romney and Cheviot, making a sturdy meat sheep that also has nice springy and crisp medium wool with a longer staple length. This wool will be great for socks, mitts, and other items that need to stand up to a bit of wear. Spin worsted for very sturdy, woolen if you want some loft in your final yarn.

For the fiber, I layed the wool down in short repeats and applied each color, again smooshing to blend. I really had fun seeing the new colors emerge as the amber broke into yellows and pinks, and the green blended with the blue.

I’m gearing up for July’s club! I have several yarn spots available, and one fiber spot, grab yours before they are gone! The Painted Tiger Sock and Fiber Clubs of the Month

In February, I told you about some new dye colors I purchased. Well, I really wanted to let them shine by themselves, so March Club was all about mixing my new Fluorescent Yellow with Fluorescent Pink (that really leans toward violet). The fun thing with dye mixing is that it doesn’t seem to always make sense to those of us schooled in making color wheels with opaque pigment paints. These two colors together in the right proportions make a great fiery red!

While it is exciting to have the bright (!!!!) colors (and I think these should black light react, too…..not going to try to find one right now, though!!) it does come with a drawback. These are NOT as wash and colorfast as my regular Lanaset dyes. You’ll note that I hand wrote in on the tags that it may bleed. I did rinse them clear in our water, but yours may get that pink bleeding again. I suggest you hand wash whatever you make in cool water, pH neutral wool wash (or shampoo) with a splash of vinegar, and don’t let it soak….just wash it and get it out again. That will keep the colors bright as long as possible.

Our wool this month is my favorite for bright colors….nice white Falkland. It’s a wool pool of corriedale, merino, and other similar breeds, chosen specifically for whiter fleece. It’s a nice medium micron, which can be ok for next to the skin for some. This would make a really fun hat or cowl. I do have two extra braids if clubbers would like some more.

Journey Sock Yarn is a favorite around here for being a nice blend of Merino and Nylon, and a nice smooth 4 ply that takes color great! I dyed this as a there-and-back gradient, which should either mini-stripe or pool depending on your pattern and gauge.

Interested in trying Tiger Club? Subscriptions are monthly, so there’s no big up-front commitment. Stop by, I have one more spot in Fiber Club and several openings for Sock Club.

We are currently owned by two tabby sisters, one is a more standard mackeral, the other leans Torbie (and she has the Torbie ‘Tude). While our girls have green eyes, I couldn’t resist this brilliant blue. With a few new dye colors in hand, I took on this picture, subbing the rusty brown color around the nose for the pale tan to provide a great contrast for the blue.

The fiber this month is Cheviot. It’s a great sturdy medium wool that has a non-regular crimp. This keeps it lofty when spun, and resists felting. Perfect for socks or mittens. I went with a back and forth stripe on this, you can break it at the turn-arounds if you want to keep the colors in order….or do whatever you like…remember, you are the boss of your fiber! One thing I wasn’t the boss of….that blue! It’s a nice bright aqua (see the yarn below), but the new dye stuck differently from the old yellow I blended it with, so it split into a seafoam green and an ocean blue. Gotta love happy accidents!

Our yarn is Bengal, which is a great 4 ply sock yarn that is 100% BFL (Blue Faced Leicester) wool. BFL is a much longer fiber than Merino, so it holds up well to being socks without needing to be blended with nylon. It’ll be great for anything you would normally use a sock or fingering weight yarn for. This was a lot of fun to dye, I laid the skeins out and basically painted on the random tabby stripes. So, while the colors are the same across all the batches, and the blue is in the same spot, each skein is going to ‘tabby’ a bit differently.

I was lucky enough to have an extra this month, so I’ve swatched it up here to check my tension (it’s a bit tighter at the bottom, a bit looser at the top…not a huge difference to the patterning, but you can see it in the black especially….not going diagonal at the bottom, making right leaning diagonals just below the middle, then making left leaning diagonals above that, before settling back to no diagonals at the top!) I’m super pleased at how this turned out and I’ll be applying this technique to yarn in the future.

Speaking of yarn, would you like to join the Tiger Sock Club? I’ve opened up a number of new spots and would love to have you join us. I also have one more fiber spot. March Club is open through March 15th.