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Friday 11 April 2008

from easter eggs to aubusson?



when we dyed our easter eggs (the ones to eat, not the painted ones!), we had some leftover dye in the mugs and I decided to use it up by painting some nz lambswool tops. I wetted them well, spread them on some clingfilm, sprinkled over the dye with syringes and hoped for the best. well, the colours were quite strong at first and mixing all 5 (blue, green, red, yellow and orange) in one top seemed a bit daring! but after steaming them (rolled up in the plastic on a sieve) it turned out that even though none of the dye washed out, the colours were more pastel than intense.... no easter egg garishness - rather aubusson faded colours! after I spun it into a singles, I wanted to ply it, but not on itself.... I looked through my stash, mused about spinning another yarn in either black or dark blue - but decided eventually to use up some naturally beige tussah silk (commercially spun!) I received from a friend some time ago. the fluffy soft singles yarn and the non-elastic silk make for an interesting ply, because the wool blooms and the silk stays smooth! when I saw the "spirogyra" pattern (gauntlets or wrist warmers/fingerless mitts) from the latest knitty I figured that my yarn in soft colours might go nicely with it. and it does, at least I like the way it knits up so far! the beige silk doesn't give a harsh contrast and I think the gauntlets will go well with all kinds of other colours.... the pattern is very simple to knit - at least it would be if I didn't constantly try to add another yarnover right beside the decrease:) I figure that by the time I'll finish the gauntlets - I will remember - just to do the mistake viceversa with the next lace project! only one thing to do about it - pick another pattern where yarnovers and ssk aren't directly side to side:) but maybe I should just get down to it and do the blocking of the "pretty as a peacock" first?

and when I thought that I could calculate the next project - kilcarra in red for a leafy sweater - the latest spinoff arrived - argh, why do spinners invent new interesting things all the time? the core yarn is so tempting, that I am glad that my wheel bobbins are empty just now - I might give it a try tomorrow!

1 comment:

Helen said...

Hi Bettina I love the soft colours plied with the tussah silk, the effect of the silk is gentle but lifts the yarn too.