Dyeing Round Up

In between knitting row after row of sleeves, I've been doing a little dyeing.  Want a quick peek at what I've been up to?

January and February seem to be the months where I'm the most focused on dyeing new colors, as I'm planning what I want to knit in the year ahead.  My first priority this year has been working on a linen silk blend, so that in addition to the sweater plans you've already seen, I can have some pretty colors for a lightweight shawl and a simple cowl to wear this summer.  Lady Mary, on the left, isn't a new color, but it's new on this base yarn.  Chateau, on the right, is completely new, and intended to take advantage of the blend of silk and linen.

I've also had blue on my mind.  This soft blue with lavender-gray undertones is called Frostbite.  It's dyed here on an aran weight Blue Faced Leicester, and is intended for a pair of cabled mittens.

I love gray.  And I love dyeing gray.  I wanted a dark gray that looked like a solid, but with the light hitting it in places, rather than flat and solid.  That proved to be a little bit of a challenge.  After a number of attempts that didn't work, I set the problem aside to think about.  I finally mixed up this new color, which I'm very happy with, this is Anthracite on Elliebelly's BFL Constant, a new sock yarn.

I love the Castlestone Gray I'm knitting my summer sweater in, but I also wanted something that was a little bit deeper, something like the gentle patina your grandmother's silver flatware gets over time with love and use.  This color, Vintage Silver, is show here on Sea Silk, but I like it so much, I've been dyeing it up on all sorts of bases and it's a strong contender for the color I'm going to choose for this year's knitalong.  (Quick note: we do a KAL every April on the Elliebelly group on Ravelry.  This year, there will be several different sock patterns to choose from.  There are polls up now and we welcome everyone to knit along with us, whether you plan on using Elliebelly yarn or something else.  There will be a few chances to win some Elliebelly in March as we all clear our needles for the KAL.  Please join us for the fun of the no-deadlines, no stress knitting adventure we have planned).

This new color is called Berlin Flea Market.  I have a beautiful hand embroidered wool shawl I purchased years ago.  I love the background color and wanted to see if I could get close on Wool.  This is my final version, dyed on Blue Faced Leicester.  I have plans for a fall sweater in this color.

I hope you enjoy this quick look at some of the dyeing that has been occupying my free time for the last few months.  Now that we are closer to the start of the Adventurous April KAL, I'll be dyeing some old favorite sock colors, and experimenting with a couple of new ones.