Good morning! I hope you are enjoying beautiful spring weather and finding plenty of time to enjoy the fiber arts!

The Making of Lizzie – A Study in Color & Fiber

This week I have had quite a few requests to dye my Lizzie colorway, which pleases me immensely as it is one of my own favorite colorways and a delight to dye. Yesterday I dyed it on two very different yarn bases, so I thought I would take the opportunity to show you how different yarn bases affect the color. Like a number of my colorways, I dye Lizzie in multiple layers. The first layer has five different dye colors, and the last one is known as a “glaze.”

First let’s compare the two different yarn bases with just the first layer–before the final glaze.

As you can see, the colors are much brighter on the Sock Perfection yarn base on the left compared with the Buttery Soft DK. I dyed these in the same dye pot with the same timing and temperature and amount of dye for each!

The difference is due to the fiber each base is made of. Sock Perfection is made of 80% superwash merino and 20% nylon while Buttery Soft DK is made of 45% alpaca, 45% extra-fine merino, and 10% silk. The alpaca particularly tends to take the dye more softly, so the whole colorway has softer tones overall. Look especially at the difference in the blue between the two bases.

Now let’s compare the colorways before and after they have gotten their final glaze layer. Glazing yarn refers to adding a last layer with just a very small amount of dye so that it coats the outside of the yarn but the colors underneath still show.

Here’s Lizzie on Sock Perfection before and after the final glaze layer:

As you can see, the colors on the left (before) are bright pastels, but once I add the final layer, they calm down a little and gain greater sophistication. The warm colors become softer while the cool tones deepen a bit. I have to admit that every time I dye this, I think about stopping before the final glaze because I really do like the bright colors too, but they aren’t quite “Lizzie.”

Here’s the same comparison on the Buttery Soft DK yarn. Here’s a photo of the yarn before the final glaze:

…and here is Lizzie on Buttery Soft DK after the final glaze:

Please forgive the messy photo. I had to take it while the yarn was still damp. Nonetheless, you can see how much softer the colors are now compared with before the glaze layer and also compared with the same yarn on Sock Perfection.

Here’s one last photo comparing the two different yarn bases after the final dye layer:

I hope this has been some good, interesting information about the nature of different yarn bases as well as multi-layer dyeing and just what goes into a skein of yarn.

Mulberry Silk Top

As I mentioned last week, I’ve been dyeing lots and lots of top for spinners and felters in the last couple of weeks. I’ve now come to an end of the top I had available, but I especially wanted to mention the 100% mulberry silk top that I dyed for all of my fellow spinners. I wish I had ordered more of it to tell the truth. I have 6 four-ounce braids dyed in 3 different colorways. The silk takes the dye in a way that is just so lovely and unique.

All of these and lots more merino, organic polwarth, and a merino/silk blend are available in the Hand-Dyed Top section of my shop right now.

April Club Colorway

Just a reminder that Monday is the last day to sign up for the April Club Colorway, which I’ll be making as art batts and as yarn on Sock Perfection, Buttery Soft DK, and So Silky Sock for the Luxury Sock-Weight club this month. The colorway for April is going to be based on Georgia O’Keeffe’s painting, “Flower of Life II.” Here’s a picture of it:

You can sign up for any of the four clubs here.

Speaking of flowers of life, I will leave you with a lovely photo my daughter took of our peach tree in full blossom:

 

Happy fiber artistry!