January is a paradox for the indie dyer….it’s a challenging time on the business side; inventory needs to be taken (ok, it’s fun to sort through all the bins) and taxes dealt with….and a really fun time, because I typically order for at least the opening quarter of the year. With shipping being a bit chaotic, I ordered from a supplier that is closest to me. I’m not afraid of color, and when I saw this merino….I had to have it…..and its rich color just called out Chocolate Cherry!
This is Comeback Merino. What does that mean? Merino was bred to other sheep (Shetland maybe?) to bring in the rich brown color, and then once the color was established, it was bred back to Merino to get some of the softness back. This fiber clocks in at about 26 microns, comparable to other medium wools. It has a delightful springy hand to it, and just wanted to overflow the dyepots! I dyed this in a there-and-back method, so you can split in 2 for 2 matching plies, or spin straight, make a ball, and ply from both ends, or split in 2 and each half in half for matching mitts or socks.
After the pouf of the fiber, I could only choose one sock yarn from my line-up: Targhee. I used two techniques on this, painting on the red and pink portions, heat setting that, and then using a hot dip method with an overdye progression of 3 different tones of brown to get the chocolate mousse portions and tone the red/pink down into nice rather than garish. So squishy. Mmmmm.
Want to join the fun? I have a few spots in both the Fiber and Sock Yarn Tiger Clubs for February.
