Hexagon crocheted blanket

I'm starting a new project this week..... A large cosy crocheted hexagon blanket, to be precise:-) It has to be a stash busting exercise as I have so many little balls of yarn stored that aren't big enough or even nice enough to use on their own. Unfortunately this means that most will be acrylic but hey, the colours are lovely and bright!

I took all the available stash that isn't in the loft (that's too big a job for me right now, but someday...) and laid it out in a colourwheel to see what colours I wanted to use. I want a nice, clear, bright palette - no murky or subtle tones for this one!! So there are a few on the wheel that will have to go, particularly the toothpaste green at 11 o'clock and the dusky rose about 3 o'clock. I did see a lovely apple green yarn a few weeks ago that I knew I should have picked up but I was being 'good' - sigh! I just knew I'd regret it! Well, I'll pop in on thursday and see if it's still there but I don't have high hopes because, well,  that's sods law, isn't it?!

I also need more of the pale pink as that little ball is all I have and I like it a lot. Most of the others have more than one ball in the stash cupboard so hopefully I won't be buying too much. Spending too many pennies would defeat the whole stash busting exercise really:-))

Once I get the missing colours, I can get going so watch this space for some colourful crocheting goodness:-))

The story of the plummy red yarn.....

I've been playing around with the red dyes a bit more this week and spent a bit of time trying to get subtle tones of mid to dark red. They don't look the same on paper as they do on the yarn but if you give them a coat of PVA glue they come up a treat! The brush can drag the dye as well though so a spray varnish would probably be a better idea next time.

I've been keeping colour notes as I go along to go in my dyeing notebook - see, getting organised:-) And having fun playing with tones on a colourwheel too. There are so many online charts you can work with - this tonal version is from Itten's book on colour. Simple and clear tones, easy to read and use. I like this one for its clarity.

And this much more complex version if you really want very subtle gradations of colour. Its a shame my printer has run out of ink as this one is pretty comprehensive to work with. I need to laminate a copy and stick it on my workshop wall - when the shed is ready, that is.

So after my foray into colour, I narrowed my colours down to three tones of reds and three tones of plum purples. Then played with colourwashes:-) The red wash was a lot more subtle before I killed it with glue - sigh! I also had an idea to stop the colour varying on paper and yarn by using thin mini test blanks. You would have had some lovely pictures as they painted up beautifully. It's just a shame I set fire to them in the microwave -BIG sigh!

So, how did I manage that, you ask? Um, well, I chopped up a long knitted length and stapled card on the ends to stop the yarn unravelling before dyeing. What's wrong with that, you ask? Didn't dawn on me that the staples are of course metal until I saw the flames:-) Luckily the microwave still works - god knows how! - if a bit smelly for the next few uses but its all fine now. It took longer getting the burnt smell out the house. Luckily I still have the blowers that are drying the floor in the living room - still! don't get me started on that subject:-) I'm ignoring the fact that the water leak has taken over a month to dry out so far... But the blowers came in handy to shift the burnt smell! (NB - I only use this microwave for dyeing! I never use it for food, so don't worry:-)

But it was worth it as I got a lovely plummy red skein of variegated yarn ready to go. No idea what I want to make from it, I'm just living with it for a while till the right project comes up....