Stripes

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!

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!

It is always interesting how things come together for Club each month. This particular picture caught my eye, and I try to be mindful of getting a good variety of colors within a year and this fit the bill, highlighting a section of the spectrum that I don’t use as often. I enjoyed mixing these moody colors from the primary colored dyes I use, with the help of a bit of brown to tone it all.

These little flowers are Myosotis arvensis, and this fun fact came up:

“The common name, Forget Me Not, comes from a German legend
about a knight who died trying to get the flowers for his lover and
called out with his last breath, “Forget me not!”. The Greek name,
Myosotis, means mouse’s ear because the oval, furry leaves
resemble a mouse’s ear.”

How apropo for upcoming Valentine’s Day?! (Although maybe we’ll overlook that these are toxic!)

Our yarn is Journey Sock, a nice round and thin 4ply with a nice twist. I handpainted the skeins in a long down and back, pushing to make a lot of blue and less of the accent colors, although each batch of 4 came out differently. It’s going to pool, puddle, or spiral depending on your gauge/needle, stitch number, pattern, etc….so keep playing until you get a result you like. This one is also a candidate for planned pooling in knitting, or faux ikat at the loom, although I didn’t keep the transitions sharp so allow for some wiggle when aligning the colors.

Our fiber is 19.5 micron American Merino, cottony soft. I dyed this in a true long gradient, working each color into the next. Each batch has its own foibles and character. This one is a great candidate for fractal spinning, or take it apart and make it do what you want. This fiber is equally happy when spun as fine lace all the way to bulky singles. Use a solid to ply with if you’d like to stretch it, teal or navy or black or brown would make the colors pop more, a cream or white would tone the colors down. Or try a soothing green to tie it all together.

Would you like to receive a surprise in your mailbox each month? Check out the Tiger Sock and/or Fiber Clubs on The Painted Tiger’s website. I have spots in all options, and can customize a package for you upon request!

As I write, we’re tipping from fall to the edge of winter with fog and drizzly rain just at the edge of freezing. A wonderful day to curl up with a mug of something hot, a project to work on, and a fuzzy friend. Those friends like to be involved, and of course are so cute, so a friendly Boop! to the nose is in order! I chose this regal kitty to stand in for our own furry friends.

I mixed up a nice greyed turquoise, a golden buff, grey, and black….and of course our signature orange nose, and used a hot drizzle technique on Safari Sock Yarn (75% Corriedale wool, 25% Nylon). I wanted to keep a light hand on this, so there’s going to be a good amount of variation throughout the skein. If you want your project to be more consistent throughout, I’d suggest alternating every row or two from opposite ends of the skein. Otherwise, embrace the chaos.

The more I looked at this photo, the more it was obvious that the blended black and grey merino (last seen as Purple Highlights, July 2021) needed to be a part of this club package. I didn’t want to overdye it with the other shades, though, and was afraid of the blue and pinky orange getting muddy. I decided to create a fine fiber sampler. The Grey and Black is fine merino, straight from the mill. The buff color is 50/50 Merino Tencel, which lends a beautiful shine. The pink/orange is 19.5 micron American Merino, and the blue is American Rambouillet. I hope you enjoy deciding how to use these colors and fibers, whether it is together, or separate.

Tiger Club remains full for December (we’re musicians, so keeping things simple is the best plan at this time of year), however I do plan to open spots in January. If you’d like first dibs, do contact me to be on the wait list.