Mysterious Colorways

This weekend, I found my inspiration in the most unexpected place. I remembered the covers of my favorite mystery writer Agatha Christie.
The colors were so unique, mesmerizing an mysterious.

There are 7 Agatha Christie colorways, all variegated, in both yarns, and rovings.

A little taste of the collection with Destination Unknown:



If you are like me, you might like to knit an read at the same time, so why not grab an Agatha Christie mystery and knit!

Spinning Diary

I have been spinning even though I have not had that much time to post about it. I steel a few hours here and there to spin. When I spin, I lose myself. When I spin, the Mom, the business woman, the homeschooling parent, the wife recede, and for far too short an amout of time I am me, and I am just for me.
It is so easy for women to forget who they are as they try to be everything. When I spin, the motion of the wheel, the fibers steadily slipping between my fingers, the bobbin turning, all take me away. As soon as I sit, I let a big breath out, with the first pedal push, as if I was hypnotized, I am transported. I do not think about anything when I spin, I am entirely focused on the fiber,and the yarn I am creating. What do you feel when you spin?

Back to my spinning...
I recently created a colorway called Danaides inspired by a painting by Waterhouse. I knew the moment I dyed it that I would have to spin it. I felt so drawn by the colors. As soon as I had a moment, I grabbed a roving of it in the Finn.

The experience was marvelous. The Finn was so easy to spin. The long staple probably helped a lot. The yarn that came out of my fingers was so smooth. I loved the colors even more. I could not stop spinning. Before I knew it, I had spun half the roving.



I loved the colors so much that I decided that I would ply the yarn to itself. I wanted to keep the colors pure. I had to force myself to wait long enough before plying.

Then I plied... The result made me so happy. The yarn that resulted was soft, bouncy. And the colors...



I set the yarn and let it dry and just sat there admiring it. I have not yet knit with it. I have been carrying the skein with me everywhere I go. I have a special project in mind for it, a baby sweater design that I have been thinking of for some time. I just need to spin a few more skeins in compatible colorways!The sweater I have in mind is inspired by patchworks, and should be very forgiving to my novice uneveness.



Now I just have to dye the perfect roving to go with my danaides.

Thank you Leon Bakst

This week's SockPixie inspiration came from the costume designs of Leon Bakst (1866-1926). His costumes and colors have an exotic flair. The colors are bold, and contrasted which always is a lot of fun for me to work with.
Here is a sample collage of the colorway Zobeide:




Oh, and if you are wondering why there is no roving in the Iskander colorway, well let's just say that ice dams and frozen pipes can steel some of one's time!

Enjoy Bakst's colorways!

A Day with Modigliani...

My weekly color inspirations take me in many directions. I am a sort of color libertine, one week in love with one, the next infatuated with another.
Last week, I fell in love with Waterhouse, this week with Modigliani. Their approach to art, and color is so different, creating the colors is like discovering dyeing all over again.

Here one of these amazing colors which I called the Lady in the Aqua Room.

First the painting:



The yarn in a luscious SW BFL:



And in a new Alpaca/merino roving blend:



Enjoy your time with Modigliani!

Waterhouse Colorways

This week, the SockPixie colorways were inspired by the works of John William Waterhouse.
Often associated with the Pre-Raphaelites he painted the femme fatale of legends, and poetry.

Here is the Danaides Colorway with its inspiration painting.




Here is the colorway shown in Alpaca.




And here as a Finn Roving.



Enjoy!

More Spinning Adventures

I had meant to post about spinning earlier, but Young Mr. SockPixie, one of our sons, gave us a little excitement. The few trips to the emergency room from early evening until the early hours of the morning forced me to reorganize my life for a few days. On the positive side, I was able to knit a hat, and of course, the hat was promised to the sick boy.
Now that everything has returned to normal, I can resume my blogging.

The soy/wool roving was spun, and as I am a new spinner, I found it a little harder to spin than the BFL. Again, it has a lot of the charm of a new spinner's hand! The soy made it incredibly silky. The colors seemed to glow, and I could not stop spinning.



Then came my favorite part, the plying. I am not kidding, I just love plying. I like to see the two strands twist together to create the richly colored and textured yarn that I know I will soon be knitting with.

I am really happy with my choice of colorways. The Petunia and the Madame d'Haussonville really flatter each other.




The yarn had just finished drying after being set when it became clear that I would have to take Young Mr. SockPixie to the hospital that night. I stuffed the yarn and needles in my pocket, and off we went.

As I was sitting there, casting on, Young Mr. SockPixie expressed his undying love for purple, and whether the hat could be his. How could I say no? There he was, sick and scared. The hat was promised to him. Between you and me, he really deserved it, as he proved to be so courageous all night, even as the doctor came with scalpel in hand!

I did not finish the hat the first night, rather I finished it on our second visit to the hospital the following night.
By the time we went home, in the middle of the night, as a gorgeous blizzard was transforming Boston into a snowy paradise, the hat was given to Young Mr. SockPixie.

Here is a picture of proud Young Mr. SockPixie wearing his first handspun, hand-dyed, and of course hand-knit hat with our snowy world in the background.

Let it Snow!

Boston has been a real Winter Wonderland. Snow, snow, and more snow. Christmas is so much in the air that I could no resist the temptation to create SockPixie colorways with a Holiday theme. I found my inspiration in Vintage Christmas ornaments.

Here is Candy Cane in a faboulous Finn roving...



Have a great holiday season!