Shake Your TailFeather

The inspiration for this yarn colour is Magpie tail feathers. Probably the only beautiful thing about the bird, in my opinion, is how the smokey colour of their tail feathers shimmer like oil on water in the sunlight.

The rest of the time they are big noisy bullies. I have 4 of them that live in the trees in my garden, so am surrounded by their cacophony pretty much all the time. 

I was unsure of how it would work out, but I shouldn't have worried... it turned out so much better than I could have hoped for!!

These pictures show both sides of the yarn. I dyed it on semi~Precious, the most favourite of all my base yarns to play with because of its construction and fibre mix ... 50% Silk and 50% SW Merino.

If you've never worked with it before, I highly recommend it, especially for shawls and anything you need to have 'drape' 
And at £14 per 100g skein, it's great value, without comprimising on luxury :)

Out of the Black

Earlier this week, my friend Jill tagged me on Facebook in the comments for this picture, as she knew I think I would find it v. inspiring. 

I did indeed, and I worked hard on replicating the colours the following day, and making them play nicely together ... it turned out so well !!

I documented it on my Facebook page, and the responses to it were amazing, they gave me a real boost, so thankyou all SO MUCH for that :)
I've also been listening to a new album whilst working this week, the eponymously titled album from 'Royal Blood' ... a British 2 piece band, that sound like at least a 4 piece!! It has all the energy I need to just get on with creating... I really like it. They are definitely on my 'bands to see LIVE' list :)
The first track off the album is called 'Out of the Black', and it seems like a very apt name for this particular colourway, don't you think?

Where did he get that Hat??

A few years ago, 6 to be precise ... I spun some wonderful rovings into a very ..ahem.. bright 3 ply, and called it 'Ode to Vincent' 

I kept one skein, and made a 'Dulcie'

I sent the other skein to my friend Woolly, and she made a reverse stocking stitch Chullo with it called Noma, because really, when you are knitting with handpun, an uncomplicated pattern lets the yarn do the talking, and boy, did it talk!! The pattern originally appeared in the KCG journal 'Slipknot' in 2010 (... haha I LOVE that name. Bizarrely it conjours up, for me, images of  masked ladies knitting and crocheting to Corey Taylor's growls :P) and today, she's re-released the pattern to the world, in freebie form..... and who doesn't love a freebie? 

Here's Tom, giving it some attitude :P

 (Both photographs reproduced with the permission of their owner, Woolly Wormhead)

To find more photos, please visit Woolly's Blog :)

Method in my Madness

You may have noticed recently (especially if you like my Facebook page ) that I have been quite.. ahem... 'prolific'... posting pictures etc

There are a few reasons for this, one being I am exhibiting at the Bakewell Wool Gathering in October, and that in itself needs exposure. It's a lovely show, friendly, easy to get to and also has a MASSIVE car park :P 

So yeah, need to motivate myself to do awesome things for this, as it's the only 'show' I am doing this year.

Another reason is that I have a new android phone, and it is brilliant, so it makes posting to Facebook/Twitter etc very easy...

But, the main reason, is that I have been feeling more creative and inspired recently, and I think being able to communicate that to everyone via social media is keeping me motivated :) 
The main reason though, is keeping the Black Dog at bay. 
So please bear with me as I clutter your lives with colour... but, in my defence, who doesn't like seeing happy colours pop up on their FB news/twitter feeds every now and then?

The last couple of days have seen me documenting my method (such as it is) of dyeing fibre...

 

First of all I use some inspiration. 

This is a picture Beast took on our recent holiday to Cornwall... he took it with his phone, and this picture was one of the reasons I got a new phone, for the camera... so I can take beautiful photos like this too!

 

Next, I formulate a 'colour plan' ...

... pre-soak the fibre, then mix my dyes and add the colour.

 

Then it gets cooked, left to completely cool, rinsed and then put on to an airer to dry. This is when I have to resist poking/picking at it, and let the top open out naturally as it dries.

 And when it is dried, I get to roll it up into a circle of wonderment and share the beautiful picture with you :)