Project Spectrum 5: The Basics

A Gray Day becomes A Dark & Stormy Night

I have some yarn in shades of blue for Margene in case she wants to start Knitting the Weather, or something, next month… or sometime. I wanted to add some shades of gray before sending it, though, since both Utah and Wisconsin have their share of gray winter days.

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This fit in nicely with the Project Spectrum/November:Neutral dyeing.

I made gray; but, because I still underestimate the potency of black in the dye pot, as established yesterday, what I intended as representation of A Gray Day turned into A Dark & Stormy Night.

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This is the yarn I declared my love for yesterday. The yarn that I would marry.

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Did you do that? It always makes me laugh and think of my sisters, especially Sharon — she seemed to do it most.

Me: I love *that* — which could be anything, or maybe not even a thing… the more ridiculous whatever it is, the better.

Sharon: Do you want to marry it?

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Yes, I damn freakin' do!

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What is it about this yarn?? I guess with the absence of color, it's all about shade and value, texture and sheen, complexity and layering. My boring, neutral, black/gray yarn… It just takes my breath away!

I'll be soon heading back to make A Gray Day.

NaBloPoMo 2011 · Project Spectrum 5: The Basics

The end of a couple of things, and also beginning

It's the end of NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month)! That — and by "that" I mean everything November — went by pretty quickly and also painlessly. Thank goodness. Let's try to keep on that express train right through winter! The blogging was maybe lame at times… one of the reasons the month flew by so fast is because I was busy doing things, and blogging suffers. It's also just different. I don't know. I'm still not ready to give it up. I'm comfortable here, even though it's/I've changed some over the past few years.

It's also, technically, the end of Project Spectrum 5: The Basics. Can I just say? I am amazed… amazed that I've seen this through in a timely fashion from beginning to end. The knitting projects aren't all done yet — I may even have lost track a bit of that part — but all the yarn is dyed. And then some! Though I am, arguably, somewhat challenged when it comes to finishing (it's genetic), I really had no problem keeping my enthusiasm for PS going over the last 7 months. I'm delighted to have developed an interpretation of Lolly's concept that worked so well for me.

So, here's the last of it… November is the month for Neutral: Black/White/Grey.

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I wanted to play around with the neutrals, but also aubergine. (Purple is the new black!) (That might have been last year, but whatever.) The group on the left was dyed first with ecru and the middle group first with grey. They were then tied up and manipulated some before being thrown into the purple bath. (That sounds kinky, or like some sort of torture, doesn't it? Ha!) The group on the right is just straight-up black; variations in color there are due to differences in fiber content, number of plies, etc. Close-ups below.

image from www.flickr.com
image from www.flickr.com
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The finished "project" skein, below, turned out much darker than anticipated — almost black — because I still underestimate the power of black!

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May I play favorites? Honestly, I think this is my favorite of all the PS dyeing. Wanna see it closer?

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Closer still?

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I love it more and more! The yarn is a merino and silk blend and it is going to have to be a scarf or small shawl. I can't wait to knit it up!

The project part of PS will remain active around here until the yarn's been knit up, and until there's a blanket knit up from all the squares! As soon as these neutral squares are knit up, I'll start to figure out how it all works. I am SO excited.

I did some extra-curricular dyeing on Sunday — Katie did, too — and I'll share that over the next few days. Because as much as I love that project yarn, there's another that I dyed on Sunday that I love even more. I do. I love it. I love it so much that I would marry it!

 

NaBloPoMo 2011 · Project Spectrum 5: The Basics

We’re dyein’ over here!

There was some Project Spectrum dyeing of the neutral variety.

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Though now that I look at it, this is extra-curricular stormy-day sky scarf dyeing.

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Katie did some dyeing, too. She wanted cobalt blue for a cowl. Yowza!

Better (and more) pics will be forthcoming.

It was a great weekend — somewhat busy and productive, somewhat relaxing. I can't believe it's already over!!

NaBloPoMo 2011 · Project Spectrum 5: The Basics · Uncategorized

Let’s be square

image from www.flickr.com

image from www.flickr.com

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The fact that these all represent Project Spectrum "Cyan/Aqua" tell me that I'm definitely on the right track — experimenting, learning, growing! The squares above are knit from the test skeins below.

image from www.flickr.com

The bunch on the right was later overdyed with the following result, which was used to knit the last bunch of squares shown above.

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It was completely unexpected and unintentional to knit that middle group of squares and see this…

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…which immediately reminded me of this:

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Hm. I must have Scotland on my mind.

I'm looking forward to the last of the PS dyeing so I can move on to the big project with all the little knitted squares. The intention is a blanket and I can't wait to get started!

 

NaBloPoMo 2011 · Project Spectrum 5: The Basics · Uncategorized

Freestyle cables

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I finished a cute little pixie baby hat with yarn left over from a recent shawl. I'd sure like to find a baby to model it.

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Meanwhile, I've started a new project with the yarn I used to exhaust the dye pot the other day.

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It's a cowl with "cables" and, inspired by a long-ago class with Fiona Ellis, I'm freestyling. What the heck, you know? I get to play! It'll be all scrunched up around my neck and I won't have to show the whole thing unless I want to. Bah! Bloody brilliant. And so far, so good!