Color Inspiration

There are so many places to find inspiration for colorways when hand dyeing yarn - a favorite painting, a flower bed, even an emotion.  It can be fun and challenging to try to recreate a color palette literally, or one can simply use the inspiration as a jumping off point.

Here's an example of trying to create a literal interpretation of something from the natural world.

The challenge was to try to replicate the colors in a parrot feather (at least I believe it's from a parrot - if you know otherwise, please let me know!)

I had some hand spun (not by me) wool and some wool roving to work with.  Each was hand painted with Lanaset dyes and steamed to set the color.

The result is pretty close to the real thing, I think.

Sometimes my inspiration comes from pop culture or, more accurately, geek culture.

Anyone who knows me knows that I may just be a bit obsessed with Doctor Who.  The next two yarns pictured were inspired by that wonderful madman with a blue box.  My photos don't really do justice to this one:

All of Time and Space

It's a tonal blue, which I kettle dyed in five successive dye baths.  The blues vary from a pale sky to deep midnight.

The base yarn is Knit Picks Bare superwash fingering.  It's a nice, bouncy blend of 75% merino wool and 25% nylon.

The swatch pictured on the right was knit on US size 2 (2.75 mm) needles.

Here's another Who-themed colorway, inspired by Amy and Rory and their time on the TARDIS.  I love how the browns echo the tweed jacket worn by the Doctor during series 5 and 6.  

Come Along Ponds

Joss Whedon's Firefly was the inspiration for the next three yarns.  The first takes its name from the ship's mechanic, Kaylee.  Although she is perfectly happy to crawl around in the belly of the ship, wrench in hand and smudged with grease, she's a girly girl who likes frills and lace.

Kaylee

This was low immersion dyed.  The yarn was soaked in water with a bit of white vinegar and then put in a pot with just enough water to barely cover it.  The dye solutions were then poured over the yarn and the whole thing was heated to set the color.

I did a variation on this colorway, using the same colors and method, but doubling the intensity of the dye solution to get more saturation.  Not sure which one I like better.

  

Shiny

Lastly, here is another Firefly colorway.  "Captain Tightpants" is named in honor of Malcolm Reynolds, captain of the Serenity.  This was kettle dyed using Bare superwash fingering.  I'll have to check my notes, but I believe this was run through seven dye baths.

Captain Tightpants

Captain Tightpants reskeined

Sockapalooza!

There's nothing quite like a nice pair of hand knit socks.  They just feel so much better on the feet than their commercially manufactured counterparts.  They're also great knitting projects for so many reasons:

• They don't use much yarn, so you can splurge on something nice if your budget allows
• It's a small project that's easy to carry around with you
• Since it's a small project, it doesn't take months to complete
• Ever try to work on a cardigan or a blanket in the middle of summer?
• They're socks!

Here are a few that I've made lately, with the most recent project first.

These are from a Doctor Who-themed pattern called Bowties Are Cool and were designed by Mandie Harrington.

Bowties Are Cool.  So are fezzes

I had originally hand dyed some yarn for these, but the tonal changes got in the way of the teensy bow tie pattern so I opted for a couple of skeins of Premier Yarns Serenity Sock (on sale, natch).  The stitch repeat was easy to memorize, and was simple without being tedious.  I didn't do as many repeats as called for in the pattern and they're still a bit longer than I like, but they're really comfy and bow ties are cool! 


The next pair was made with some hand dyed yarn, which I wrote about here.  I made them for Pat, who dyed the yarn and promptly handed it off to me.  The pattern is Eunice, from Sock Innovation by Cookie A.  It was a challenging (in a good way) pattern, including a 7 stitch cable that had stitches going every which way, but I think the result is gorgeous.  I might just have to make a pair of these for myself at some point.

Eunice Socks for Pat

These were made for my mom.  She picked out the Malabrigo sock yarn in Rayon Vert.  I adore working with this yarn!  The pattern is another Ravelry download.  The designer is Kristi Geraci, and the pattern is called Belle Vitini.

Mom's Belle Vitini Socks

Finally, here is another pair of socks with a Doctor Who theme.  These are mine all mine.  Yay!

Don't Blink!

Raveler Maire Martin designed these Weeping Angel socks.  I made a couple of modifications, starting with a twisted rib for the cuff.  I also extended the feather pattern down the foot to the point where the toe decreases begin.  I really like how the toes echo the heel motif, which you can kind of see here: 

This pattern had an interesting heel construction, employing a series of increases rather than knitting a heel flap and then picking up stitches for the gusset.

I'm really pleased with this pair.  They're soft and comfortable, the color works with lots of my wardrobe, and the lace pattern is lovely. 

Best part?  They're DOCTOR WHO themed!

My preferred method for knitting socks is two at a time on two circulars (saves me from the dreaded second sock syndrome).  It seems I usually select top down patterns, although that's not a conscious decision. 

How do you like to knit your socks?

 Finally finished my Color Affection shawl (well, almost - I still need to block it) so I cast on my Bigger on the Inside shawl.

I don't think it will be quite as long as I prefer, so I plan to add more lace repeats.  Will probably add increase/decrease repeats so that the shawl is a bit wider as well.  In order to keep the edges nice and neat I'm slipping the first stitch of each row purl wise.  On the right side rows I'm slipping with the yarn in back and on the wrong side am slipping with the yarn in front.  I think this will make it easier to pick up stitches for the TARDIS section and will make for a more attractive top edge as I don't like the look of garter stitch edging.

TARDIS Love

I've been wanting to cast on Kate Atherly's Bigger on the Inside shawl since it was published on Knitty recently; it went to the top of my queue immediately.  So, although I really shouldn't be spending money on yarn right now, I treated myself to some Stroll from Knit Picks, which arrived today.  Yay!  The color way is Sapphire Heather.  It's a bit more teal than true blue, but I think it'll work anyway.  I like the depth of color the heathering lends to the yarn.

Now I just have to finish my damn Color Affection shawl.  It's a simple pattern but for some reason I have had nothing but trouble with it.  I actually had to frog it once because it was puckering in the three color section.  It seems that no matter how loose I make the edges it still wants to pucker a bit.  Hopefully it aggressive blocking with take care of it.  There are only 2.5 three color repeats to complete and then I'm on to the final section.  Can't wait to be done so I can move on.