Respectable Rhubarb

They say presentation is everything and this proves the point.

A week or so ago, feeling somewhat over-confident after a spree of successful hand-dyes, I attempted a very colourful scheme on a skein of Bluefaced Leicester laceweight. I thought brown, pink and apple green would sit nicely together, and they did — on the dyeing table. However, when the skein came out of the steamer my heart sank. It looked like burnt under-ripe rhubarb. I let it fester for a few days and then took this photograph.

It’s more photogenic than me! So I re-skeined all 800 metres of it and now it’s a very respectable piece of hand-painted laceweight, no?

  Now, if I could work a similar makeover on myself I might just get a job.

Gorgeous or Gruesome?

I tried four-colour dyeing yesterday and I’m just not sure about the result. The yarn is a merino/silk blend, so that helps.

I think it’s gorgeous, but I’m biased of course. Perhaps it’s my baby and I couldn’t possibly see fault with my own creation.

But maybe it’s gruesome.

Please tell me.

I could have it knitted up in time for Halloween …

Red Red Red

Isn’t Autumn wonderful?

Looking out my window (as I do a lot) I’m intrigued by this combination of red and green. I’ve no idea what the shrub is, although I should, but it looks dreamy, like it’s getting ready for hibernation:

I know this is Copper Beech:

There’s a skein of sock yarn just waiting to be turned into a burgundy/green mix ….

Colours from nature

Once the rain had stopped this morning I found some colour inspiration from nature. Admittedly, these flowers in the War Memorial garden are cultivated

and they’ve taken a battering from the recent bad weather. The three colours are a combination just waiting to be transformed onto a silky yarn.

Down by the river I found darker contrast of red and green on a mature mountain ash. The wind was blowing

but my iPhone did a pretty good job.

Then it was back home to skein my recent efforts at multi-coloured hand-dyeing: a violet/fuchsia mix and a pink/grey/natural. This is so much fun!