Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Purple Dye and Goodbye to the Devil's Socks

You didn't know that the devil wore pink socks, did you? Well, here they are, all finished and ready to leave the premises. Thank goodness! I hope they fit! I like the results, but for heaven's sake, how involved should I get in the life of a pair of socks?! So onward to the next pair--two pairs, actually--of blue men's socks. Simple, straightforward, no extras, so much easier. Right? Right?

















Today started with a misty sunrise. I trekked out to the wool barn to start some dyepots and my little companion followed, fearless as ever. His name is Cheeto (CheeseMan to you) and he's one of four kittens from this summer. My husband would like to get rid of all of them, but so far, only one has found a new home. He's a keeper as far as I'm concerned, even though his appearance is common as mud.














I concentrated on purples and blues today. I need a couple of skeins of blue for the rest of the sock order and the purples just struck me as the thing to do, even after that pink sunrise.

I really like this process and some of the surprises that you get when you don't treat it as a science. My challenge this year, however, is to become more scientific and accurate about what I'm doing. I also have to come up with some names for my colorways. Right now, I'm trying to reproduce a hand paint that we did last year that looked like a lilac bush, both in the skein and after it was knit up. This year, I'm trying it as a dip dye. We'll see how that turns out. The few purples and blues drying outside my wool barn are done on white and gray yarns with slightly different results. As soon as my sister arrives, we'll go into production mode, but for now it's a little here and a little there.



12 comments:

Pondside said...

I was hoping that you'd show some photos of your blues - gorgeous. How much do you do when you go into production - it must be something to see.

Wizzard said...

WOW - your blogs are very interesting. The colours are beautiful - I wonder what made you do the purple!
Wx

Casdok said...

Beautiful colours, love the pink socks!

Cait O'Connor said...

Finally managed to track down your blog and a colourful one it is too, what fantastic shades you have.
Gorgeous little kitten.

Inthemud said...

what gorgeous colours. Love the pink socks!

Suffolkmum said...

I'm another pink sock fan! Your work is fascinating, not something I know anything about, but I love the colours too.

Elizabethd said...

I wonder if you have ever dyed with woad? I came across a shop near Toulouse last year that sells everything from clothes to paint, all based on Woad.

Elizabethd said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Norma Murray said...

Wow! Love the colours and the pink socks are something special.

Elizabeth Musgrave said...

What absolutely fabulous colours, just love the skeins hanging up. Makes me want to leap up and do something creative!

Posie said...

Lovely socks and lovely colours...

Bluestocking Mum said...

I am so glad you joined us Woolyworks.
I saw your blogs a few weeks ago but have since been on holiday, doing craft fairs and preparing stock for Christmas so I didn't realised you had joined purplecoo.
Fantastic bunch of people who will, like me really appreciate your skills and enjoy reading your blogs.

It is so interesting to hear about what you do. Just my cup of tea!

warm wishes
xx