Black Tulip – Tiger Club March 2013 Reveal

I enjoy following the rhythm of the seasons with my dyeing, but I also enjoy being a bit unexpected. This picture of a Black Tulip was my inspiration for March’s Tiger Club. For our final month of the overdyed non-white fiber theme, I wanted to do something special. This fiber is 60% Merino, 20% Tibetan Yak, and 20% Silk. My kiddo said it was so soft he couldn’t feel it. 🙂 A bit of sampling, and I easily had beautiful rich shades of purple and blue. Now my challenge was to create something similar in yarn. I wanted to retain the shine, so I chose Panda (superwash Merino, Bamboo, Nylon). I also wanted to get the feel of an over dye, which gives rich tweedy colors. So I gambled (well, ok, make a big sample!). I used the exact same colors as the fiber, arranged the yarn, and painted myself a flower: Wow. That is PINK! So after setting this layer of dye, I took the skeins and dipped them in a dilute bath of greyish brown….a shade similar to the Merino/Yak/Silk fiber. You can see the before on the left, and the after on the right.  (It’s more purple, really….lousy lighting, and my camera hates purple unless I have the special light on.) Ah, much better. And here they are all dried and prettied up: If you aren’t in Club yet and like what you see, I invite you to join us. There are spots open in fiber and sock clubs until April 15th. Treat yourself for getting those taxes finished? Yeah.