Summertime!

Wow, it's been a while since my last post. I think I have a pretty good excuse though. I moved to a different city and started a new and very satisfying job in May. My knitting time has suffered a little and I've resorted to knitting plain socks most days.

This sock may be plain but that heel is extraordinary: Sweet Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi!

I've made a little time to dabble in a summer pastime that began last year. Dyeing yarn with natural dyes. So last summer I had some success but I wasn't totally impressed with the colours. I don't wear pastels, peaches, lime green or yellow... I love vibrant, rich deep colours. My favorite colours, red, purple, blue and teal, are the most difficult to get from natural dyes! The colours I got last summer were not those ones.

This year, with the move an everything, I didn't get a chance to plant any dye-plants in my pots. I cheated a little and bought some natural dyes from Maiwa.  I bought Madder, Cochineal and Indigo. I had Logwood as well from my initial trip to Maiwa when I was in Vancouver. These should give me the colours I craved.

I started with logwood, and some copper-acetate liquor I made using copper pipes, vinegar and hydrogen peroxide. I mordanted my Polwarth fingering yarn (from Rovings near Winnipeg) in the copper and then put it in the dye pot. When I pulled it out this is what I got:

Gorgeous navy and purple mix! I'm knitting it up into a Travelling Woman shawl. 

Then I had some merino sock yarn from Acme Fibres that I had dyed with black beans. While the process was fun, the pale grey blue just wasn't doing it for me anymore. I put that in the dye bath, thinking it would turn a medium periwinkle or something. When I pulled it out though:

A dark denim-y navy! Almost black but definitely blue overtones. WOW. That was unexpected but really cool. I know black is hard to get with natural dyes. This came close.

Stay tuned for more!