Monday, May 24, 2010

Hand painting commentary with pics!

As promised, I took pictures of my oh-so-lucscious hand-painted yarn!

My first attempt was with a sock weight wool. I attended the workshop with my good friend and long-time knitter, Melissa. She came to the workshop with a clear picture in her mind to use as inspiration--a beautiful tree with large cream-colored flowers and small, purple accents. I came to the workshop with no plan at all, but soon realized that I needed a plan because all of the colors seemed great to me.

I soon decided that my wedding day would be great inspiration. Jose and i were married at Duke Gardens in Durham. I chose a pink that reminded me of my stargazer lilies, a green that reminded me of the entire backdrop of the gardens and a lavender that reminded me of Jose's shirt and tie and my niece's flower girl dress.















































































Here's the product...how'd I do?


































My second attempt (this time a DK wool) started out as a teal and gray combo...then I added raspberry and kiwi green to the mix. I think it turned out pretty well for something that I didn't plan:


















Stay tuned for the knitted results...I'm taking pattern suggestions for both yarns!




Friday, May 21, 2010

My dyeing debut

Today was the first day of the Carolina FiberFest and Melissa and I were signed up for the sock yarn dyeing class with Nancy Shroyer. I went in with low expectations because I'm usually not that great with craft projects (knitting aside), but this went well. I had a good time and I even like my finished products! I only have grainy Blackberry photos, so I'm going to wait until I have real ones, because I need to do this yarn justice!