February 15, 2006
Parrots and Autumn
What do parrots and autumn have in common? Not much, but that's what these colours remind me of.
A few weeks ago I attended a dye workshop with local artisan Louisa Chadwick. It was my first foray into the world of acid dyes. As you can see, we played with some intense colours. We painted and dribbled dye on skeins and roving, and did some dip dyeing and some immersion dyeing too. It was a fun day. I discovered a very nice book at the workshop. It's going to be very helpful to me as a rank beginner. It has information about all kinds of acid dyes.
In the mean time, may I present Lisa Souza's superfine merino in the colour Beach Stone? This fibre was a complete joy to spin. And look at those colours!
That bobbin has since become 840 yards of lace weight. I'm open to suggestions for what to knit with it. I would rather not make another Flower Basket shawl just yet.
Arches is nearly done. One cuff and one neck band to go. Other than Arches, I'm down to one pair of socks on the needles. The yarn is Trekking XXL, colour 76, knit in my tried and true 3x1 rib pattern. I can knit these in my sleep. Just to switch things up a bit, I put in a Dutch (square) heel instead of a round heel. I can't decide which of these two heels I like the best.
Oh Mel everything looks lovely! That laceweight would be a pretty color for evelyn clark's sea scape shawl(which I can't remember the name of!)
Posted by: elizabeth on February 16, 2006 06:05 AMVery nice! I guess you could make the Leaf Lace shawl which people seem to make when they've done enough Flower Baskets.
I tried other sock heels (Dutch heel, Half Handkerchief), and came back to the round heel because those others end up sticking out the back of my heel like a little lump when the socks warm up and get a little looser. I have that problem less with the round heel.
Posted by: CarolineF on February 16, 2006 07:40 AMOh baby, that parrots colorway is fab and your spun up Souza is lovely, love the colors. I hear the Susan Rex book is very good, it's one I want to get.
Maybe a River stole would be boring, but it would go great with the colors.
Posted by: Monica on February 16, 2006 10:32 AMA handpainter is born! Can't wait to see how the Autumn roving looks when spun and your Beach Stone laceweight looks absolutely perfect. Would the yardage be enough to knit a top down Faroese lace shawl?
Posted by: Vicki on February 16, 2006 12:00 PMA Diamond Fantasy shawl by Sivia maybe? I have the Susan Rex book, it's very good.
Posted by: Angela on February 16, 2006 05:27 PMWowza Mel! Gorgeous!
Posted by: June on February 16, 2006 09:07 PMmelanie, you still have the midas touch :-)
that laceweight is eye candy!
Great dye job! Have you spun up the autumn yet? Love the beach stone, too.
Posted by: Kerry on February 18, 2006 08:51 AMBoy, take your eye off the blog ball for a couple of weeks, and look at all the marvelous things that pop up. Beautiful, Mel - just beautiful - all of it!
Posted by: Sam on February 23, 2006 12:21 AMMelanie, Melanie, Melanie...your spinning is just divine, my dear. I feel some hem touching coming up but then again I like to roar through fiber. Congrats. I can see that pretty soon you won't need me anymore. :o)
Posted by: Lisa S on February 23, 2006 08:51 AM