Color, color - what kind of color do I want?
I have something over 600 yards of yarn that I set aside for the border work on the entrelac shawl and I will probably need to use most of it. But I also needed to do a little experimenting to see what color would be a good fit with the robin’s egg blue of the body.
I set out to acquire a skein of Lionbrand Fisherman’s wool - my old standby for dyeing. It’s a good, hefty 8 oz. Skein and is a nice, natural color - perfect. I got to the store, proceeded to the yarn and had this in hand when I spotted the Paton’s Classic Wool at the end of the aisle. So I went down to have a look at it. It didn’t offer quite the economy of the Fisherman’s wool but it was a nicer feeling yarn. It also had the advantage of being packaged in 100 gram balls which would make it easier to divide evenly for experimentation purposes. Finally, it’s natural color was paler and creamier than the Fisherman’s wool (which had a very slight yellow cast to it) which came much closer to the color of the Knitpicks yarn I would be dyeing - and so would yield a truer color match for that yarn. Right?
I went with the Paton’s, two 100 gram balls, which I divided into four 50 gram hanks. And the experimenting began.
Note: These are all linked to the dye posts at The Dye Pot. Click on the color name below the photo to go to the related post.
Okay - put on your sunglasses :)
Of all of them, I think Terra Copper is my favorite. However, I’m not sure that it’s the right choice for the shawl. Part of me still thinks that Evermoss should get the nod - even though I’m not real thrilled with it.
The odd thing is that I have clearly produced an autumn palette here. It’s entirely coincidental, believe me; it truly wasn’t what I had in mind. The colors go very well with each other…
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Hmmm… as nice as all those colours are, I’m thinking they’re just a little too intense for that lovely robin’s egg blue. A more subtle shade would complement the blue better, don’t you think? As you suggested, try a swatch of the undyed yarn.
The shawl is looking gretat, btw. :)
Ev - I guess that’s what I’ve been dithering about - you put your finger on it when you used the term intensity. I guess that’s why the green seems more acceptable than the others - even though it’s not a color I like much…
Now, I’ll be the first one to tell you that I’m not particularly ... adventurous when it comes to color. But, since you went with a mid-range blue and went lighter from there… yes, I think all the colors are too pure, almost. You seem to have a slight gray hue with the blues, and the oranges (and green to some extent) seem to be too “there,” compared to the very well mannered colors of the shawl.
But I think you need a hat out of the autum palate - or Dulaan does. Those colors just go so well together.
Colleen - Toothere? Yeah, I guess that’s a good way of putting it. I want something that will enhance the body of the shawl, not detract from it or drown it out.
The natural cream of the undyed yarn is becoming more appealing all the time :)
But yeah - wouldn’t these (in combination) make a great scarf - or something?
Glad to see you’re back and up and at ‘em again.
I love Paton’s wool. It’s a quality product, and it can be had in craft stores, which helps in a yarn emergency when all the fancy-ass yarn stores are closed. I agree with you, the Lion Brand Fisherman’s wool is too yellow. But their new product, Lion Wool is pretty nice. Not a wide range of colors to choose from, but there’s a good hand to it. ALTHOUGH, when I try to break the yarn off with my hands, instead of scissors, it’s really hard, reeeeally hard to break. Makes me wonder if they haven’t sneaked in some synthetic in there to boost their profits, but not enough to keep it from felting. Hmm, maybe I should do the bleach test.
I have no opinion about the colors, other than I like terra copper best, but not necessarily for the shawl. Do you spin at all? Because you could take those yarns you died, cut them into small pieces and incorporate them into a cream colored roving that you could spin up and it’ll looked flecked. I don’t know if that would make a good border, though. How about just the same color for the border. The fact that it’s going in a different direction from the shawl should add enough visual interest, don’t you think?
What weight is the yarn for the shawl? I’m assuming it’s worsted, since you’re using Paton’s as the border. What about finding two different sport weights, one in a similar blue as the shawl and a different color (or a variegated)? Then you’d have the blue to tie it to the shawl, but the other color would add interest?
OK, I’m out of ideas!
I’m with the others. The contrast between these colors and the blue is too much. I think the cream would be lovely or if you just must dye something, maybe the cream with flecks of the shawl blue in it to add interest to the cream.
Marcy - No, I don’t spin and even if I did, I don’t caqre for tweedy, flecked type yarns.
It would be possible to do the border in one of the shawl colors - probably the deepest tone and that is something to consider - as well as the plain, simple cream.
The yarn is worsted/aran weight, as you correctly surmised. I often combine yarns for a particular color effect, but I hadn’t thought about soing that here. Something else to mull over…
Thanks for all the terrific ideas!
Charlotte - You know, I had just about come to that conclusion myself - even before I posted. But you know how it is - you know your eye isn’t perfect. Maybe someone else can see something you can’t.
So you ask :)
umm, of your choices shown, i definitely go for the ‘evermoss’ but you know i have a penchant for combining blues and greens- some of the bedrooms here are blue accented with greens or green accented with blues, and i think i told you that ben’s nursery way back in pre-history was done in royal blue and lime green!! okay, so all my taste is in my mouth, and maybe that is why i stick with my exciting palette of neutrals for most items- how about an even softer blue for the edging or a tiny bit of varigation of light tan and cream (let’s call that a ‘sand and sea’ experiement)- *or* an almost silvery light grey (would that be ‘clouds over a lake’)-
better yet, take the advice you feel suits you best and listen to your comments from those who know color- the shawl is going to be breath-taking anyway you do it- now, i will go and work on endless baby items and also seal up my box for dulaan which feels that it contains garments made from lead!!
stay happy-
Barb - The silvery gray idea is intriguing but I have no earthly idea how I would go about creating that color. Now the tan/cream - that sounds nice too and I think I could get into that ball park using nothing more complicated than tea :)
Definitely worth thinking about!
