It was time for some light and cheerfulness, and of course we have that in spades in our spring colors. Taking inspiration from our favorite (chocolate) bunny, I mixed up nearly a rainbow of soft, yet not quite pastel colors.
The fiber is Wensleydale, which I knew would take these colors brilliantly, as longwools tend to do. This is dyed to-and-fro, so if you’d like to keep the colors in order you can divide the braid. I also left a good bit of white space to lighten everything up. Wensleydale tends to like to be spun thin with not too much twist, use worsted technique to smooth the ends into the yarn and it will look and feel silky. If you don’t want too much movement/blending of the colors, strip the wool down closer to the width needed for the grist of yarn you are creating so that it will not need to be drafted as much.
The yarn is a new one to TPT, it’s a blend of superfine SW Merino, Tussah Silk, Bamboo rayon, and nylon, coming in at around 410 yards per 4 oz, it’s a thicker fingering weight. I haven’t given it a name yet, as I wanted feedback on whether this is something you’d like me to carry in the regular shop. I think it will be plenty sturdy enough for socks, and yet is wonderfully soft and a nice weight for shawls and light sweaters and such. Be sure to let me know what you think. I wanted the yarn itself to shine, so I left plenty of white space and applied 4 areas of color, spacing them through the width of the yarn to encourage the colors to change up somewhat randomly while knitting, but still have a nice balance of the warm and cool colors with each row. Of course, the proof is in the pudding (mmmm, pudding), or rather swatch.
So here we go! The bottom wider portion is 72 stitches around, and you can see clear signs of this making a nice wide spiral with stripes of colors and stripes of white. Interestingly, I decreased to 64 stitches at the top, and the colors seem more random. It’s still spiraling, but it’s nearly flat, with the color areas and white areas not as well defined. So, if you don’t care for what this yarn is doing in your project, change something up. A subtle change in needle size, stitch count, or pattern can dramatically change what the colors will do for you.
Are you interested in joining the fun? Tiger Club is a month to month club, so no huge commitment. I’m open for new subscriptions through the 15th with Club to ship at the end of the month. Subscribing now will mean you have plenty of time to consider your new yarn and fiber and decide if you want to continue with the club. Thanks for stopping by!
