I love browsing all the color design options on Pinterest for inspiration, and I found a number of ‘shelter’ photographs I plan to do this year. This one is the first; Derelict Door is still boldly showing off its blue paint, although it is faded in places, and chipped away to show the weathered gray wood. The iron hardware shows richly brown in spots, and in others a rusty orange brown. It’s a great contrast, and a fun pop of color for the record setting cold (-33 actual, -57 windchill) and snow (~29″) of January 2019. I veered away from the ‘suggested’ colors attached to the photo, I wanted a little more contrast and ‘happy’ colors.
I’m very excited about my new fiber supplier, and this is the first of some new breeds we’ll try this year (we’ll also have some of our favorites, too!). This is Finn, which runs about 28-30 microns and average length of 80mm, a nice medium wool that does felt well. It feels softer than the microns will suggest, and has a nice bit of luster (shine) usually only found in longwools. It took dye like a champ, and I decided to do a blended (or Faded) gradient to give you the most flexibility. You can strip this down for recurring stripes, fractal, or separate the colors completely and do what you like….or keep it in order for a nice gradient. For more information on the Finn Sheep breed itself, including charming pictures (did you know they have litters of lambs?), visit the website of the FinnSheep Breeder’s Association.
I chose a self-striping pattern for the sock yarn to show the colors off to best advantage. I pulled out a favorite of mine that hasn’t made it to the shop yet, Targhee Sock. It’s a blend of 90% Superwash Targhee Wool (grown in the USA) and 10% Nylon, has a 3 ply structure, and runs about 460 yards per 4 oz skein. It puffs up marvelously, and has a nice smooth look when knitted. The wool itself has the softness of Merino, but has the sturdiness of being crossed with Lincoln. The swatch above is 64 stitches in the round.
Want to join in the fun? We’re going to have another new breed for February’s Fiber Club, and explore a little different dyeing technique than I usually do for the Sock Club. The buttons are turned on for new subscriptions, you may check out the options on the Tiger Club page of my site. Do contact me if you’d like another combination, International, or manual billing….I’m happy to accomodate.
