Stripes

Crisp fall is almost upon us (currently, we are experiencing Soggy Fall!), and it’s a great time to enjoy a campfire and a favorite sugar overload, S’mores.  I like my chocolate a little more melty, and peanut butter adds a nice salty counterpoint to the sweet, so I took club inspiration from this ooooey, goooey Grilled Peanut Butter S’mores recipe.

For the sock yarn, I spent some time with colored pencils and measuring tapes, estimating the length of a round of sock knitting, and figuring how I can get the chocolate and peanut butter and marshmallows to stack nicely in the variegated portion between the golden graham crackers of this self striping sock yarn. If you are curious, you can see the online calculator I used to get an idea of how it might look.  Here is an example of how it turned out:

This is a 64 stitch tube, about 7-8 stitches per inch.  I started at a tighter gauge the closed bottom of the sample, then loosened up a smidge as I went up….you can see it goes from barely pooling at all, to medium pooling, to very strong puddling.  There will be larger differences with a different number of stitches (plus these were dyed in batches, and each batch will vary somewhat).  So….your socks will come out uniquely, and if you don’t like the variegation you are getting, change something….a size larger or smaller needle, or add/subtract a stitch or two.  Adding a pattern to the stockinette will also change how it turns out.  The yarn itself is Safari, great for sturdy, long wearing socks.

Our wool this month is Superwash Corriedale. I don’t generally enjoy dyeing superwash, but I have to say that this one behaved marvelously, and I’m sad that it was a limited special….I’ll have to see if I can find a similar fiber elsewhere when I run out of my current bump.  Corrie is a great all-around fiber….fine enough for most next-to-the-skin use, yet sturdy for most applications, also….perfect for long wearing socks, mittens, cowls, etc.

Looking for a Sock and/or Fiber Club to join?  Tiger Club has openings in all clubs for September, stop by and check it out!

After this endless winter, I was ready for some bright spring colors, but I didn’t want just simple rainbow colors, I wanted complex and interesting colors….just a shade off of what you might expect. My inspiration was this lovely shot of a daffodil (also called Jonquils) against a purplish sky.

I mixed up violet with a shot of yellow, blues with the purple, greens with some pink, and a yellow that had both enough pink to lean it golden, and bit of blue to keep it from being brassy. I had a lot of fun playing with application techniques.

For the fiber, I went with 50/50 Merino / Tencel. It is a fun fiber to dye, as the tencel acts to get the merino wet and carry dye to the wool, but isn’t dyed itself, leading to a pretty and shiny look with threads of white throughout. I dyed a true gradient on this, using 9 colors. Each batch came out differently, which is a big reason why I love to dye….you get something not available from a machine. I suggest spinning this one from the fold or make fauxlags, that will help the tencel and merino stay together. This would be lovely as a straight gradient spin, or try a fractal!

Our yarn is Bengal Tiger Twist….a similar construction to my old favorite plump 2 ply, but made with sturdier Blue Faced Leicester wool, a longwool that in itself lends a bit of shine to the finished yarn. I went with dyed-across gradient, using 5 colors, and allowing the golden yellow to dominate. It’ll make a nice swirling variegated pattern, or this is a great chance to try Planned Pooling, or weave it up on your loom for a great plaid effect, or faux ikat. So many possibilities!

You may have noticed that I went old school on the shipping labels, using paper and tape. PayPal has decided that I cannot print my subscription labels through them unless I input the addresses manually and individually each month. Oh. My. Head. So, I did a search for an alternative shipping provider, and found Pirate Ship. I’m tickled with their fun theme, and although it is a very simplistic website, it uploaded my spreadsheets and made labels slick as grog. Plus it automatically looks at the tracking and tells me when packages are delivered, which is why I can post Tiger Club reveal today….a little parrot told me that everyone has their club!! The drawback is that they do not support my thermal label printer, so I’m in the process of researching alternatives. I wouldn’t mind so much, except I just bought a year’s worth of labels for the old printer….I won’t use them up that fast if I can’t print club on them. Ah, well….I’m sure I’ll figure something out!

Are you looking for a Sock Yarn or Spinning Fiber Club of the Month? I invite you to try my Tiger Club, which is now open for new subscriptions.  It is small, so you get personalized service, and my crazy experiments each month. There’s no huge commitment, join for one month and then decide if you want to continue, stay as long as you like. The subscription is serviced through PayPal, so you have complete control (however, a PayPal account is not required, contact me for options). I’ve been running this club since April 2010, and have enjoyed every month of new colors, fibers, and yarns. I hope you’ll join me on this adventure!