I really had a lot of fun with Tiger Club this month. Some of my dyeing made it into Spin Off magazine (Winter 2017, article by Devin Helman), and the wool happened to be Polwarth. I love the wool, but hadn’t really used it recently since I could get US grown Targhee, which is fairly similar fiber. I got a chance to try a new source for fiber, though….and they had Polwarth sourced from the Falklands….it is super white, and since there are no natural sheep pests in the islands the wool is pesticide free. I decided to use bright clear colors to show off the whiteness, and threw in black for contrast. It reminded me of the Disney version of Sleeping Beauty….the ever changing color of Aurora’s dress, and the brooding black evil of Maleficent. The fiber made its own resist when packed into a dyeing pan, creating great shades of the colors.
For the yarn, I decided the best counterpart to the Polwarth would be Journey. It is also bright white, and has a great structure of 4 ply, and the superwash qualities will slurp up the bright colors. I wanted to experiment with some ‘messier’ dyeing techniques, as speckles and ‘imperfect’ color are the in-thing right now. A hot pour later, and I got this….I think it is a lot of fun, and I look forward to seeing how it turns out in projects!
Are you interested in joining the fun? Technically Tiger Club is closed for December, but drop me a line in the next couple of days and I could squeeze you in. Otherwise, Tiger Club will open again on January 2. I hope you all have a lovely Holiday season!
