Stripes

I was browsing through my collection of inspiration pictures, pulling out those I was particularly inspired to make at this time, and managed to pull out 3 that have connections to the ocean/beach, so we’re having a summer theme! With Swirled, I love the soft tones of these Sea Snail shells, specifically the Neverita Duplicata Shark Eye. I did tweak the colors pulled out a little bit, I leaned the buff sand color more toward peach, and the nebulous mauve color into a more firm violet. I also toned the navy down to match value better with the other colors. I was ruefully amused, apparently I did such a good job with this colorway that USPS decided one of the club packages should go to Hawaii! Fortunately, it was safely delivered back to Minnesota.

It was a no-brainer to look for a yarn with some shine for this colorway. Panda 2 fit the bill, a supersoft blend of 80% Superwash Merino and 20% rayon of Bamboo. This blend is great for socks….and anything else you’d like to make. I dyed this in the round, so the colors stay in order, this should lead to some stacking, swirling, and flashing, depending on your stitch count and pattern. If you don’t like how it is working up, try a tweak of needle size or stitch count, or there are patterns with slip stitches or modular bits that will change how the colors work with each other.

For fiber, I was able to get my hands on some lovely American Targhee. A cross of Merino and Lincoln, this breed was created to be hardy in our western states, particularly Idaho. It has a very soft hand, and a bit of a sheen when spun worsted due to that bit of Lincoln. This wool is happy to be spun any way you like. I suggest you also arrange the colors how you like, I went with repeating short color bits as these colors went so nicely together.

Tiger Club is currently on waitlist only, however the list is short! I do have fiber spots available immediately, so just drop me a line through my website after you’ve viewed the club listing here.

For February’s Clubs, this Mandarin Duck just quacked to be splashed out on yarn and fiber. The vibrant blue, navy, and violet, set off by rich orange and gold.

I’ve again chosen a new yarn for you to try, this one is 90% 19.5 micron SW Merino and 10% Recycled Nylon. Let me know what you think of it! I dyed this in a down and back variegated style that should mini stripe, depending on your stitch count and pattern. It did a very nice job of taking the dye, I took a light hand and didn’t worry about flipping to allow the yarn itself to act as a resist, leading to various shades of each color, and I wasn’t afraid to let there be light spots, as the duck has numerous such areas.

For fiber, I’ve put together a sample pack of medium wools. The blues and purples are Radnor, the yellow is Kent Romney, and the Orange is Stricken Andean. Use them together, or separately. All of these will be fine being spun woolen or worsted, and are great for items that need to be a bit more durable such as mittens, boot toppers, etc.

I’m getting ready to dye March’s Club next week. New subscriptions are available for all the yarn and fiber clubs, however it is via contact only and I’ll send you a link or put you on the waitlist. Do stop by the website to read about the Clubs and you’ll find the Contact link there. Thank you!

December’s Tiger Club started with a lovely fiber I had acquired as a special buy, a blend that contained a good amount of naturally dark brown wool, with ribbons of natural white. It can be a bit of a challenge to decide how to dye it, the brown can take dye, but needs to be quite intense to show, but I preferred to work with it and have bits of color peek out. This picture stood out to me with the colors peeking out in the background bokeh effect. I took the colors from the photograph and added a blue from this second image I had considered to round things out.

The fiber (30% Blue Faced Leicester, 30% Polwarth Wool, 40% UK Alpaca) was wet and layered in my dyepots, with the colors applied randomly to each layer in keeping with the bokeh effect. Here’s how that turned out:

You’ll find this a pretty versatile fiber, it will be quite happy to be spun worsted or woolen, or any version of semi that suits your preferred spinning style and/or end project idea. If you want to keep the marl fairly consistent, I would suggest spinning from the fold to keep the slippery fibers together with the grabbier Polwarth. I do have a couple extra braids of this, ask if you are interested.

Our yarn was a new one, Champagne, a blend of 25% Bio-Nylon, 25% UK Alpaca, 50% SW BFL. While it does have sock yarn specs, it might be lacking a bit in structure to make socks that will spring back after wear. Knit along with a springier wool or perhaps wooly nylon/lycra for more elasticity, or use this for something where more drape is wanted like a cowl, shawlette, etc. The yarn was a nice cream color, so in keeping with the fiber I added a chocolate brown to the color palette, and drizzled them all randomly on the yarn. This resulted in even more colors than I applied through mixing on the yarn itself. This drizzle technique should change up the patterning pretty well, but if you want to be sure to mix things up, you could alternate knitting from both ends of the skein. I do have some extra skeins, do ask!

There are spots open in all clubs currently, and especially if you are interested in Fiber Club I suggest you sign up in January, as I’ll be basing how much I purchase for the next several months of Club from my January subscription levels.

I’m looking at a good foot of snow accumulated on our railing and thinking about getting a round of shoveling done before any wind picks up. Hope you are all safe and warm and have things to look forward to in 2024!