For June’s Tiger Club, I took a bit of owner’s leeway, and celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. Our wedding colors were green and purple, and remain favorites to this day, which I’m sure you’ve noticed through the years of Tiger Club! I like to pull in a reference photo, and while I briefly toyed with a ‘Peck of Purple Peppers’ (photographed on a green background), I decided to go with this mushroom pic as it had nearly all the colors within the actual picture and pallete. I did add an additional lighter green.
For yarn, I chose Targhee Sock, 100% American made and so bouncy! I dyed this in the round, one half of the skein being the purple shades, and the other the green. The navy in the purple mix took over a bit, pulling the lighter two purples toward blue, but I think it makes a very nice effect. Interestingly, the navy broke to brown in the dark green section….I originally thought some purple was bleeding through to the green side, but nope….it was making these rich browns on its own, so I embraced the organic nature of it and let it do its thing.
For fiber, I chose Hoof and Leaf, a blend of Llama, Whitefaced Woodland sheep, Ramie, and Bamboo. The two very different protein fibers soak up the acid dye in differing amounts to create subtle color differences and the plant fibers don’t take the dye at all, lending their ribbons of natural white to add texture, silkiness, and shine. To maintain some order to the colors, I decided to create this as a twin-set, one braid of the three green colors, and one braid of the purple. You’ll see some of the green braids had the same breaking to brown of the navy that the yarn did. I’m wondering if it isn’t something in the water, as while I’ve heard of this happening, I’d never experienced it before. We were experiencing quite a drought at the time of dyeing these. (Pardon the ramblings of a dyer who hovers at the junction of art and science!) I’d suggest spinning this in a way that keeps the fibers together…..if worsted be sure to keep moving across the top (you could also rip it down to thinner sections), if you want semi-woolen spinning from the fold or making faux-lags or other such methods are perfect.
I don’t plan to open Tiger Club publicly to new subscriptions until September, and even then it will be limited, however I do have spots open from time to time and I will fill those from the waitlist. Check out the Clubs then use the contact form to let me know which club you are interested in. Thanks for celebrating with us, 25 years is both long and over in an instant! Hope to have 25 more and beyond!
