I’ve been thinking about a recent shawl pattern purchase (Anemoia by Andrea Mowry), and what yarn I have that might work with it. Isn’t it always the way, that you either don’t have enough of one color, or it isn’t the color that you really want to use. It’s not like I don’t have a huge stash of yarn. But of that particular weight, and color, I had none.
But I do have some undyed yarn. I don’t have enough of the exact weight called for (DK), but I have some sport, so I decided to try to dye the color I had in my head.
I first dyed a set of sock yarn, just to see what the dye colors I was thinking of using would look like. They turned out nice, but in my mind, I wanted just a tad darker. The color here is just a little darker than in person. This is two 50g skeins of Cloudborn superwash highland wool. On the drying rack above, these are on the lower rungs.
I took that ‘recipe’ and added to it. I went a little deeper and a little more tonal with the sport yarn. It has the same base red shade, but there are also tones of a deeper, almost maroon, color.
I need to get my sweater finished so I can start on the shawl. Both have patterning that I need to pay attention to, so I need to only be working on one of those types of projects at one time.
I’m actually seeing a pattern to my recent color choices, because my sweater is knit with ‘firecracker red’ yarn. Oh, and I have finished the main body patterning on it! I still have the ribbed/cabled hem to knit, which is about 3-4 inches in length, so I have a little bit to go before I start the sleeves and get that all done.
The picture doesn’t do it justice, as that patterning (increases/decreases/cables) looks so much more fabulous on a body in 3 dimensions. It also appears a little washed out in the photo. This red, while a little more muted, is a little more vibrant than my picture at night under artificial light conveys. I’ve been working on it for about a month and a half now, and probably have another month to go, depending on how quickly I can knit those sleeves.