Today we have had the most torrential rain with blustery winds, blowing at us horizontally in sheet after sheet of never ending rain. The sky was so dark at lunchtime that it looked like dusk. Sadly this heralds the end of summer and the change of seasons, but after the storm, everything smells fresh and alive and vibrant. Yes, the flowers are dying and the blooms are falling off one by one but there is something about the coming of Autumn that makes me feel alive. I always enjoy Autumn, even the wind and rain:-) as the weather seems in its right place - please, mother nature - NOT so much of it in summertime, please!! And I like being able to pull out the warmer jumpers and knee socks with big boots, wrapped up ready for whatever the weather decides to throw at us. The colours we wear suddenly move away from lighter tones of lilac, pale blues and greens to deeper shades as if we are mentally and visually preparing for the change of season and packing away our summer colours and clothes.
As I was considering what colours to dye today, I think that subconscious part of me was talking very loudly! I have started to move into deeper tones, rich and comforting palettes that want now to be explored. The weather today suggested this new yarn - After the storm. Okay, the landscape out my window wasn't quite so intensely coloured but the idea of bands of colours from sunsets and landscapes reminded me a lot of the work of Mark Rothko's colour field studies and it also reminded me that I'd been thinking of using yarn blanks as a canvas.
So I started to play around mixing dyes and experimenting with some colour palettes using fields of colour. The knitted blanks I am trying out today are slightly different from the sock blanks - I think I'll call them scarf blanks:-). Using only one thread, I knitted up an 100gm blank twice as wide as the socks, so I could literally 'see' how a scarf would look over the full length. If I paint from dark to light, the scarf will knit up exactly the same. I find this much easier to visualise than painting a very long skein. Each blank will be unique and I can have no colour repeats at all - a one-off painting.
So, today I painted my landscape of the stormy sky based on my little colourwash. I randomly changed the tonal values as I went. I find this method really lets you get much subtler detail in the colours and you can blend as you go. I wanted to let you see this as a blank first so you can imagine just how this will knit up if you are planning a long rectangular scarf. If you are thinking socks, then this will give you a similar stripe pattern to my aquaviolet cable socks that I'm knitting from my purply/blue/green sock blank.
So, what do you think this one-off scarf skein would look nice knitted up as?
Oooh this is gorgeous. I love the idea, the colors, and being able to see what the pattern looks like knit-up. What a brilliant idea.
ReplyDeleteHow long, roughly, was the scarf blank. So when I win (never hurt to be optimistic) I'll know.
And what would I knit with it? I've done a multi-directional scarf using Noro, and that looks really nice, but I love the subtlety of these colors and I bet it would be even more beautiful.
Hi EJ, the scarf blanks are about 1metre/39" long x 50cm/19.5" wide. These were originally knitted this size as a trial for dyeing for either scarves or shawls but now I've seen it off the knitting machine, I think a thinner strip, similar to the sock blanks may be better for long rectangular scarves. But these will still work, but you'll have to space out the stripes a little:-)
ReplyDeleteBut I feel that kind of defeats the purpose of 'seeing' what it will look like so maybe I will stick to sock/scarf blanks one size and shawl blanks another.
Multi-directional scarf! what a good idea for this stripey yarn! I've been menaing to knit one of those for ages....:-)
So as I understand it, each row is 50 cm wide, is that correct? I think this would really make a fabulous multi-direction scarf in all its glorious stripiness.
ReplyDelete"The colours we wear suddenly move away from lighter tones of lilac, pale blues and greens "
ReplyDeleteSome people wear all shades of purple all year long :-)
This is wonderful. I love the color interplay and would wear something made from this any time of the year.
My guess is that there is too much color variation in this to really do a lace pattern. For this I would do something with a very simple stitch that would highlight the bands of color. My so-called scarf might look great. Maybe just a seed stitch scarf. It's too beautiful in my opinion to waste on socks that mostly see the inside of my shoes.
I was generalising about the pale colours - most people do tend to wear them - but I tend to wear bright colours all the time:-)I do tend towards the deeper ones in autumn/winter but emerald green, magenta, purples, reds, turquoise etc are always in for me:-)))
ReplyDeleteYup, 50cm wide:-)Off to look at the mult-directional scarf now!
ReplyDeleteI love this one too, and though many do not think purple is manly, I do.
ReplyDeleteHow about an entrelac scarf. This would look great, I'll bet.
Entrelac:-) Yes, that would be lovely. Never had enough patience before but maybe I should try it again - with some nice stripey yarn:-)
ReplyDeleteMaybe if I say that I'm sure I'm going to win this one, it will work again :-)
ReplyDeleteI certainly would love it and the colors are wonderful.
Everyone has already made such great suggestions.
How about a herringbone scarf? It is designed to be done in a much heavier yarn, but basically it is just an interesting stitch and it might look great
You can find it on Ravelry. I think there is a free tutorial if you click enough.
Congrats on creating something so beautiful
I love this one too!
ReplyDeleteHow about a really nice cowl with the yarn? No one has suggested that yet. Elaine just showed me how to use Ravelry and there is a beautiful spiral cowl pattern. I don't know how to get links yet, but I'm sure all the rest of you do.
This one is DEFINITELY mine, she says assertively! Amazing!
ReplyDeleteWhat would I knit with it - I love all of the suggestions so far. Probably my favorite is the multi-directional scarf, but a nice simple cowl might also look great.
This is very pretty! I can totally see this knitted and crochet up into a pair of wrist warmers with a gentle knit cuff and crochet ruffle. Sorry, it's in my head so I wouldn't know what it would look like till it was done.
ReplyDeleteWhen I stopped by yesterday, this wasn't up yet. Very well worth waiting for! It's so pretty.
ReplyDeleteAgain I'd go with a scarf - probably one of the ones already suggested.
This one is amazing! I think I'd stay away from lace on this one and do a multi-directional scarf just a plain stockinette with garter borders and let the beauty of the yarn just shine.
ReplyDeleteI definitely don't want to miss out on entering for this one. I love the coloration - all the blues and purples.
ReplyDeleteI'll jump the multi-directional scarf bandwagon too.
I'd love to see this as a multi-directional scarf. Whoever wins this do get back to us on what you knit:-))
ReplyDeleteThis one I'd use for a watchcap in simple 2x2 or 3x3 ribbing, though I agree a multidirectional pattern would look great.
ReplyDeletei would totally make a lacy shawl like this http://www.gourmetcrochet.com/index_files/Page8206.htm with this yarn! ohh that would be pretty!
ReplyDeleteI love the crocheted shawl pattern, Rachel! Its a great structure to fit lots of colourways on. I can imagine this using both this yarn and the calm blue stripes. Good suggestion -another one to add to my list:-)
ReplyDeleteI would love to try this yarn in a chevron scarf I bought a whole book to get the pattern for. ^>^
ReplyDeleteFor some reason, I think this one would be (fairly plain) mittens or gloves.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think if it knitted up as a scarf size Clapotis? I think Clapotis can show off the colours well!
ReplyDeleteAgnes