exceptionally dyed
July 10, 2007
every time i type in knit to etsy.com, i come up with whole slew of new hand dyed yarn shops. the sock craze may be getting just a bit out of control… with that in mind, i just thought i’d take a moment to ponder what makes a hand dyed yarn lovely to me.
first, i must say that i love subtlety. as an example here, i would like to point to Fearless Fibers. her colorways have such a lovely depth to them created by gentle variation of color. another one of my favorites for this is Mountain Colors – because they often dye with similar shades, their yarn varies more, but still has that subtle core that i appreciate.
Secondly, variation of shade, tint, or tone draws me in. Adrian of Hello Yarn is a master at this one. look at this wool. notice how she varies all the way from dark brown to white. sigh. she’s my hero.
and lastly, i love yarn that is different than other yarn i’ve seen around. Confections is currently taking the cake on that one. i love the mottled look she has going on in many of her yarns. seriously though, i can’t imagine them knitting up anything but fun.
just some thoughts. what makes a yarn exceptionally dyed to you? do you have a favorite dye shop? i’d enjoy hearing your opinions.
The yarn in the picture reminds me of the deep fried zuchini flowres my grandma used to make, for some reason.
Unusual color pairings, things I wouldn’t have thought of on my own. I am way too safe in my color selections.
I also like things that remind me of something in nature. I don’t like really bright pure primary or secondary colors.
And I like uneven repeats in the colors.
I agree! Two of my favorites are also Mountain Colors and Fearless Fibers. I love the richness of Mountain Colors.
Heh.. you just nailed two of my favs: I BOUGHT some Fearless Fibres – a yummy purple colour, and another one of bronzey greens, and I’ve been reading http://brooklyntweed.blogspot.com and drooling over the EZ Babysweater he’s knitting with Hello Yarn’s handspun.. drool! Oh, and I own some Mountain Colours, too, but I felted it unfortunately with linted stuff and have never used it. (yet)
Things that I love about handdyes: being unworried about pooling, getting a mottled effect or a sparkly water effect, color tones that are related but bring warm to cool and vice versa.. or the sparky yarns with super-short blips of each colour that would work magic as a simple 2×2 fair isle pattern :) Off to do my own Etsy run of the evening, soon! (and hey, I noticed that one of your hats is in the top page of ‘most viewed’ of its catagory – congrats!
I *love* Cider Moon … the colors are so deep and saturated, and complex. And the combinations are really creative and beautiful. I am knitting some socks in their June Carter colorway and love watching the changes: it’s a combination of deep green, dark rose, yellow-gold, and what can best be described as bronze (but not metallic, obviously). So gorgeous!