We were fortunate enough to take our first beach vacation since 2017 a few weeks ago. Here’s the sunrise on our last full day. I couldn’t help but bring the bright, fresh colors of Florida to Tiger Club. I didn’t try to capture this picture, but rather created a fantasy of a Tropical Sunrise, capturing the impressions of the brightly colored homes, and the amazing changeable colors of light and sun and ocean throughout our week.
The yarn is Titanium Tiger Twist, a high twist 2 ply with plenty of yardage, and a good amount of nylon to make it viable for socks. It would be just as lovely in a cowl or scarf. Look up planned pooling if you want to keep the colors more distinct….this will work, but don’t fuss too much keeping each color in line, let it waver. I dyed this pretty much as shown, scrunching the bare yarn, then injecting the lines of color. Each skein is a bit different, as scrunching is less than a scientific process!
I made up a little swatch of this to see what it would look like in a stockinette sock. This cylinder of knitting is 72 stitches around at about 9 stitches per inch. The way your particular skein pools will be different depending on the dyeing, your stitch number, and gauge. I’m going to play with options a bit more before committing this one to a project. I’m wanting some really fun socks, but this would really shine as a woven piece using the faux ikat technique.
The fiber is my favorite of the merino types, Rambouillet. The white color shows off these neon colors beautifully, and the shorter staple will keep them from bleeding into each other as much when spinning. You can strip this down closer to your finished yarn weight to also minimize blending between colors. Or let it go and enjoy the new colors that form at each transition. Ply with a white or navy yarn to make this calmer or to pop the colors respectively, and to stretch this to a longer project…..or try a 2 ply technique to match or barberpole, or 3 ply. Or rip it up and reprocess into the colors you want….so many possibilies!
The gorgeous neon dyes used are not as washfast as my usual Lanaset dyes (ironic, since the brand is Washfast!), however if you use a bit of care and wash these using cool/cold water and a bit of vinegar in your wash and rinse water (and be brief about it….don’t let the water have too much of a chance to bind with the dye) it will look bright for many washes.
I do have spots in Tiger Club for April, but I didn’t turn the buttons on this month as I’ve been a little busier than normal. However, you may join by using that envelope contact form in the header of the main shop site, and I’ll get back to you. Thanks for joining me for March’s Tiger Club reveal!
