A bit sentimental, perhaps, and I wasn't sure at first whether this would work, but I took a close look at the photos and was not disappointed:
Just look at all those hues. So I did it - layers and layers of delicate colour... and while no one hue can be distinctly identified in the final yarn, the combined effect is simply luminous.
Here's what it looked like in pure reeled silk (sold, but I can't resist showing you...)
A gentle, fluttering blend of every green imaginable, tempered by the rough grey-brown columns that support the canopy, lit by cascades of creamy lichens falling from aged silver branches, and bathed in warm, fragrant sunshine. Here and there the sun catches a brilliant flash of spruce, a dazzling moment of moss. The overall effect is subtle and reassuring, yet endlessly fascinating to the eye.
Essential Merino Aran (double sized skeins):
Seized by a design idea, I couldn't resist nabbing a couple of skeins of the lace for myself. I am quite pleased with the subtle effect of the knitted fabric thus far (I really do put a tremendous amount of thought and effort into micromanaged randomness):
Fiercely sunny heart of the eternally optimistic crocus, exotic spice, swirling robes of enlightenment - there's just something about saffron, isn't there?
There's also a double skein of Essential Merino Aran, which would make a stunning Leafy hat & mitts...
There's a bit of merino-silk:
If all that doesn't cheer up a grey and rainy week, I don't know what will!
Morning coffee on the patio is back in season - I love it. And this year, now that the new Native Cultural Centre is open, the strains of traditional singing and drumming float across the crisp mountain air, blending seamlessly with the breeze and the birds and the whispering trees. Songs that were sung in this very place hundreds of years ago - a compelling thought.
It was a small update this week - I'm slowly adding some real luxury yarns to the line-up, starting with this spectacular reeled silk:
In Crocus:
And Transformed:
In other news, I plan to dye a batch of Blackberry tomorrow, so if you want to get in on this round, let me know by the end of the day. (There's a couple of base yarns I'm running low on at the moment - check out the Blackberry custom dye page for details.)
So many shades and permutations of purple here - from nearly-blue to sweet lavender, fading out to pale rose at the crisp petal tips...
And mohair-silk:
Sweet. I haven't ruled out doing a second colourway of the centre - titled, perhaps, Saffron? I chose not to combine them in a single colourway, but that tiny burst of pure hot-blooded joy in the centre rather makes it, don't you think?
The snow is leaving, albeit reluctantly, skulking off all grimy and disheveled, like an over-long couch crasher. The skies are grey, the grass is brown, but the magic IS happening.
Dark red leaf buds, that held the whisper of spring through the cold dark season, are unfolding slowly, their ruddy pink skins blushing pale as they transform into the newborn leaf's golden glory.
Bluefaced Leicester fingering:
and BFL worsted:
and Summit Sock:
Somewhere in the last few days I meant to have a cool Spring photo post, but the long weekend flew by in a whirl of kid stuff and work (tucked awkwardly around kid stuff) and...... here's yarn instead! I'm going to cut the number of photos down a bit today - not because anything turned out poorly, but out of consideration for readers and in grudging deference to Bloglines, which takes forEVER to pick up extremely picture heavy posts.
This is a somewhat non-traditional interpretation of the colour, which is usually rendered as reddish-purple... but that's not primarily what struck me here:
The inky black has definite purple undertones, but its surface reflects sunlight as a luminous blue.
Like so (Summit sock):
This colourway, and the techniques I used to obtain it, showed up the differences in dye distribution between the superwash and untreated yarns more definitively than usual.
You can see the distinct layers of colour in the sock yarn above, whereas yarns such as the BFL sport show the black as a sort of an inky glaze over a luminous blue core, with the purple subtly shading the black:
Both very pretty, but quite different effects.
There's some of everything (excepting the Cruiser sweater pack, which is spoken for now):
Essential Merino Lace, Essential Merino Fingering, Merino Silk, Bluefaced Bliss, Bluefaced Bliss Worsted, and Essential Merino Worsted.
Done - at last. Website work never ceases to amaze me by its propensity to create a time sucking black hole out of a pretty basic task.
I've set up a category under yarns called Custom Dyeing, which explains the process, and under that, a category for each colourway I'm offering - Dark Water and Blackberry, thus far. It works exactly as I blogged earlier: email me with your choice of colourway, base yarn(s) and number of skeins. I'll keep a running tally of the no. of reserved skeins on the page for each colourway and when it reaches or exceeds 40, I'll set aside a dyeing day for it and let everyone know. Payment is via Paypal invoice, which is generated after the yarn is dyed to my satisfaction. I figured the running tally would allow folk to check back and see how close their colourway was to Dye Day.
The other development is the beginning of pre-ordered Socks of Fraternal Happiness. I've only designated one colour sequence thus far, just to get an idea of how smoothly it will go and the kinds of numbers I might be dealing with. The first colour sequence will be the challenging but popular full rainbow.
In other news, St. Brigid is well underway again, working the body in the round. I'm still in love, and I'm a little torn between wanting to wear it and not minding at all if the process prolongs because it is such a pleasure to knit. The BFL was so right for this. Besides, in the mountains, there is always an early morning chill that's sweater-worthy for an hour or two, and standing at the market on a rainy day most definitely calls for wool.
The sun is shining, the snow is trickling merrily down the road, woodpeckers are pecking, robins are sucking fat worms out of the newly revealed earth, and I feel like Colour!
Heather is another of my favorite flowers, found mostly in the high alpine here, carpeting the rocky slopes with breathtaking colour.
For this colourway, I was particularly intrigued by the juxtaposition of the rich fuschia pinks with the equally intense brick red. I find warm and cool variants of the same primary colour to be a very effective combination - in this case, the yellow-toned red lends an air of fierce maturity to what could otherwise be an overly saccharine pink.
Being a new colourway, I experimented a little with depth of hue on the pinks - some yarns at full intensity, so as to be on par value-wise with the red, others emulating the lighter pink hues, with a little more contrast. I think they were all successful, though I do have my favorites!
Summit Sock - I permitted more contrast on these, because socks are meant to be bright and fun (the red highlights are short and random, so there shouldn't be pooling).
And the merino-silk - pulling out the purple undertones, as it inevitably does:
BFL sport is all gone, but there is some lovely worsted weight in a particularly intense mix of hues:
The Essential Merino worsted has more defined highlights, as is characteristic of the fibre, but is also very intense:
The Cruiser Sweater pack has been claimed...
I've settled on a new merino laceweight to replace Merino Mist. Due to economic factors, my base cost for both of my mainstay laceweights suddenly jumped by 25%, which I couldn't see either passing on or absorbing, so lace has been scarce of late. Silken Mist will also be phased out as I dye up the last of my stock, but I have a potential replacement on order that may be even better.
So... introducing Essential Merino Lace - a lovely 2 ply merino with a great hand and excellent yardage:
The reds are distinctly present, but very close in value to the pink, as befits the purpose of a lace-weight.
And of course, the Glowing Hearts - I went a little hog-wild on the reds because this yarn has a tendency to go pale and wispy if you don't really saturate it...
Perhaps not perfectly true to the original flower, but satisfyingly magnificent nonetheless.
I was reminded of this lovely Robert Frost poem by Cathy-Cate at Hither and Yarn, and it seemed perfectly appropos for the colourway (never mind that spring doesn't come to the high alpine until July or thereabouts.)
Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf,
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day
Nothing gold can stay.
This is one of my favorite "gentle" colourways, drawn from the most enchanting of alpine wildflowers:
Feathery dove grey melts into pale creamy yellow with just a hint of chartreuse.
Showcasing meltingly gentle transitions, there is Bluefaced Leicester in fingering, sport, and worsted weight; here's the fingering:
The merino-silk is particularly luscious (as usual):
There is pure merino in fingering and worsted; here's the worsted:
And some mohair-silk laceweight that perfectly mimics the delicate, feathery fronds of the flower:
The Cruiser sweater pack has been nabbed already, but there is still a sweater's worth each of the sport and worsted weight BFL, or you could combine this colourway with a darker one for some colourwork. I'm still brainstorming how best to handle sweater quantities, knowing that one size does not fit all, so to speak. I'm open to suggestions, including a limited amount of custom dyeing in certain colourways.
This week is shaping up to be pretty full, with company to entertain for most of it, so I won't be able to do another full dye run until next week, BUT... I still have a tub of back-stock of sock yarn and another of laceweight, much of it Silken Mist, so I'll have my voice activated skein winder working while he socializes and put that yarn up next Sunday.
