I’ve been sitting on this picture for several months, trying to decide how to do it, and in what fibers. February seems a good month to curl up with some warming herbal tea and beautiful cranberry-orange madeleines. I brightened the blues a bit to the rich sky colors of winter, and formulated a rich gold, cozy brown, and deep burgundy.
The wool is Romney, which I chose as it takes strong colors beautifully. It’s a nice medium wool, great for sturdier items like boot toppers, but can also be used for any number of next-to-skin items if the project is lined. Romney likes to be spun worsted, and you can go thin or thick….it’s a longer staple, so less twist will still hold together well and will keep the poky ends in line with the yarn itself making the overall yarn smoother. It also felts/fulls well. I like this wool for beginning spinner, the fibers have just the right amount of grip between them to help get the hang of drafting. If you’ve been wanting to try a modified long-draw, you can try with this….even as a worsted prep. Pinch the twist off with your forward hand, and gently pull the fiber back with your other hand, dancing the twist into the fiber as you go.
I knew I wanted to do stripes with the yarn, as I wanted the colors to be crisp. I had a bit of fun with it and made a very long and not symmetrical pattern (so beware-if you knit from both ends of the skein you’ll have opposite socks). If you see the middle section of blue and gold, that’s a full repeat. I kept the blues together as the teacup sections, and the brown table littered with cranberries and madeleines.
Tiger Club is closed for March (but do contact me for the wait list, depending I might be able to slip you in).
