Dyeing in a Heat Wave

cashmere & silk . . . what's not to like?

It was something like 95 degrees yesterday, but that didn't stop me from getting the dye pot out and steaming some cashmere & silk. I've been wanting to get some more "bimbo knitting" projects going, for when the strain of MS3 gets to be too much for my lackadaisical cerebellum. I thought I'd knit my mom a little shoulder shawl for her birthday in September, perhaps this one from knitting daily:


. . . just a light little something to help with her arthritis. I thought the silk/cashmere blend yarn would be perfect as it's so light and warm. Mom wanted a medium bright purple, and I came up with this:

Something between a butterfly bush flower and a pink petunia:

Here's everything I dyed yesterday: 2 skeins of cashmere/silk (the green one is going to get overdyed), and about 500 yards of silk dk, also medium purple:


The green is a little too "lettuce-y" for me, so I'm going back to the drawing board on that one. The silk is such a rich color -- good thing almost every girl in my family likes purple, because this should make a nice scarf -- but which pattern?? Decision, decisions.

I used Jacquard dyes for this project. They really do seem very forgiving. It's fun to experiment -- adding a dash of red to the purple dye (or a dash of blue) to see how the colors kind of "bend" to another hue. I'd love to expand my dye stash -- Jacquard has such a lovely palette of pre-mixed dyes. Something to add to the ever-expanding wish list . . . The 2 base yarns I used here are Sarah's Yarns silk/cashmere 2-ply and a Colourmart (UK company with some very interesting yarns) dk weight silk.

Also, I just cast on a "Dragon Skin" pattern scarf. I'm just a few rows in, but when I have enough to take pictures of I'll post some here. The yarn I'm using -- a cormo wool/angora/cashmere laceweight that I dyed dark ruby, is a joy to work with. But even though the pattern is **SIMPLE**, I keep screwing it up!! Arggh. Thankfully, the yarn encourages perseverance -- it is so well-mannered, and doesn't seem to mind getting ripped out repeatedly.

Today, I believe I'll do some work on my MS3. Tomorrow: An update on all things mystery-stole related.