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Over the weekend I did a quick assessment of the surrounding fiber and realized that I've been dealing with an overload of one color. From the dye pots to the knitting needles I've been immersed in various shades of red. From cayenne to cranberry to sangria . . . hot, fiery, sultry red.
I do love red - don't get me wrong - but I felt I needed to mix up the color rotation just a bit. Of course that involves a new project, so I started looking at anything-but-red colors. After some deliberation and polling my daughters, I settled on this.
Cool, calm Lucia Lupine . . . the perfect choice to balance out the red.
My Ravi Junior is moving right along. I'm working on the sleeves but took a little break to assess the button situation. Usually I don't settle on buttons until the very end - after the buttonholes are made and I can look at the whole sweater.
I have some running around to do the next couple of days. If I need to make a button stop, it would be nice to know now. My first option for buttons is my button box. I pulled it out and did some sifting and sorting.
It looks like I have a couple options on hand. I do love button shopping, but time is tight. I'll resort to that only if I can't make these work. Full steam ahead with the sleeves.
My color inspiration this week is a combination of red, purple and yellow.
Potato medley.
Dyeing yarn isn't always an exact science, and sometimes the results are unpredictable. I know that, but I get comfortable with my tried and true formulas. I can repeat them over and over and over with identical results. But if I tweak a recipe just a little bit, the outcome may not be what I expect.
Recently I had a special request.
Take this colorway - Paula Cayenne, 100% Superwash Blue Faced Leicester - and dye it in a different yarn base.
Not a problem. I got to work. I soaked some of the requested base - Lucia, 75% Superwash Merino and 25% Nylon. While I mixed the dye, I envisioned the above colorway - a mellow, peppery hue reminiscent of the Southwest.
I dyed the yarn and paused. The colorway wasn't exactly what I had pictured, and I couldn't decide if I liked it or not. It was the end of a long day, and I decided to assess the situation in the morning. Maybe with fresh eyes it would look like Cayenne.
Well, in the light of day the colorway still wasn't Cayenne, but it had a certain appeal. The two yarn bases have different fiber content. They have similar construction but take the dye differently. I should never have predicted that one would look exactly like the other.
This new colorway is definitely related to Cayenne but with a fiery, intense edge. Now that I've let go of my preconceived image, I kind of like this color. It's starting to grow on me. Who knows . . . maybe it will become a regular.
I never thought it would happen, but I might have spent too much time on Ravelry. It was a hot, holiday weekend - perfect timing for a bit of research, I thought. Untold hours later I came up for air with several long lists and many more project ideas than I had intended.
Several of the projects were not really what I was looking for, but the twists and turns of Ravelry are half the fun. Discovering new and interesting patterns is always a possibility if you're willing to stray from the straight and narrow.
So with new projects in mind, I started selecting colors.
And that has created another dilemma. Eeny, meeny, miny, moe.
Ravelry didn't suck up the entire weekend. There was also a fair amount of knitting time.
That shapely yoke from last week grew into a sweater. The increases are finished, and the body is almost done. This is Ravi Junior, in case you're wondering. It's knitting up so quickly, it almost makes me sad. But there's no need to linger . . . the knitting queue is long.
After the holiday yesterday, I'm tempted to coast into the weekend . . . but there are orders and deadlines and dye pots. We're in the grips of a heat wave. Summer at its worst. I was brave and glanced at the weather forecast, but there's no relief in sight until the middle of next week.
My biggest challenge with the heat is maintaining my knitting. I have a schedule to keep and hazy, hot and humid can throw me off course. Yesterday I was lucky. I found a relatively cool spot and stayed put for a few hours.
At the end of the day I had almost finished the yoke for a wee sweater. Today I'm ready to pick up where I left off, but I'll chip away at that to-do list first. A friend is visiting this weekend, and there's talk of knitting and coffee and AC.
The season for local strawberries is winding down, but they were part of our holiday party yesterday. My color inspiration for the week.
Still sweet and juicy.
Earlier this spring I was bit with a bug . . . a bug that had me fascinated with knitting stripes. It's July, and I still haven't recovered.
The zebra version of Pendulum.
Like the bug that sent me to the ER recently, I can't get this pattern out of my system. I'm enamored of the unlimited color combinations combined with the magic of short rows.
The yarn is Lillian, colorways Pumice and March Sky.
In case you were wondering . . . yes, I have to make one more. At least one more.
Shop update. If you're within striking distance of Burlington, Vermont, nido is now carrying yarn from Dirty Water DyeWorks. It looks like a lovely shop full of creativity and inspiration. Check it out.
With a holiday coming up later this week, many people are in vacation mode. I know several people who are taking the whole week off and others who are making a long weekend of it.
While I won't be doing any vacationing this week, I have made plans for a little holiday knitting.
I have new booth samples in various stages of development and decided it was time to jump start one of the projects. The other day I sampled several colors on this new yarn base and finally settled on this one. I have plenty of other work that needs my attention first, but I think it's safe to say that I won't wait until the holiday to start this new project.
Happy Canada Day to our neighbors to the north. Here's to summer holidays!
