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Farveglassene tømmes / Out of the dye jars

Så blev det tid! Pinsen har været varm og solrig, og mine farveglas har efterhånden stået og hygget sig i et par uger.
Her til morgen besluttede jeg mig for at ventetiden var ovre og åbnede mine glas.

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Til venstre det meget spændende eksperiment med kronbladene fra de visne, sorte tulipaner. Ser flot petrol-farvet ud i glasset! Til højre mirabelleblade-badet. Smukt gyldent, men ikke det mindste grønligt, som jeg ellers havde forventet. Det 3. glas så sådan her ud inden jeg tømte det:
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Flotte violette og blå-grønne nuancer. Det er mest akelejeblomster men også en enkelt rød tulipan, som jeg tror er det der giver den lilla farve i bunden.

Så skyllede jeg hele herligheden. Først den sorte tulipan, hvor skyllevandet blev meget grønt af overskudsfarve. Fibrene beholdt dog heldigvis det meste af farven og overlevede således skylningen.. Det gjorde det mirabellefarvede også. Smuk gyldengul farve!
Desværre mistede akaleje/tulipan-garnet rigtig meget af især den rødlige lilla farve. Det vaskedes ud i skyllevandet og tilbage sidder blot et blegt minde om den kraftige rødlilla farve. Det er stadig pænt, men ikke så kraftigt som jeg kunne have ønsket mig.

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Sådan ser det hele ud, nyskyllet og hængt til tørre. Jeg er især fornøjet med fibrene til venstre. Hvis de holder farven i længden er sorte tulipaner da helt klart et hit til plantefarvning, og jeg skal have købt masser af løg til plantning i efteråret!

Jeg satte med det samme gang i de 3 glas igen. Alle med strømpegarn denne gang, og lidt opløst alun. I det ene lagde jeg garnet lagvis med thujakviste og blade fra rød bærmispel, i nr. 2 kom der oregano og kraprod og i det 3. glas genbrugte jeg faktisk de sorte tulipaner. Der var nemlig masser af farve i vandet stadigvæk, så det ud til. Igen eksperimenter. Det eneste jeg ved fungerer er kraprod..

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På fotoet ses glasset med oregano og krap.

Så nu er der ventetid igen. Jeg har masser at lave, heldigvis, f.eks har jeg travlt med at spinde shetlandsuld til den dejlige sweater “Next Year in Lerwick”. Den er designet af norske Tori Seierstad (torirot på Ravelry) og det er en af de designs jeg ville ønske jeg selv havde udtænkt. Så smuk!
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Der skal bruges 11 farver. Her er jeg netop færdig med at tvinde farve nr. 3. Jeg laver i første omgang blot omkring 20 – 30 gram af hver farve, så kan jeg supplere op undervejs. Så kan jeg senere se hvilke af farverne der skal bruges mere af, og jeg vil jo gerne i gang. Nu!

Summary in English:
My dye jars have been standing now for about 2 weeks, and it’s time to see what has happened inside. The black tulip jar looks great: a wonderful deep blue/green colour. Lots of colour in the water, so I decided to re-use that bath with a skein of sock yarn.
The mirabelle leaves gave a beautiful golden yellow colour. I had expected something more green-ish, but you just never know..
The jar with the columbine flowers and red tulip lost most of the pretty red-purple as soon as it hit the washing water. Still nice yarn in pastel nuances, but I would have preferred something more powerful.
I hope these colours last and don’t fade away too soon. If the black tulip fibres keep that marvelous green shade it’s definately something that I’ll get back to next year! Need to plant more tulips..

3 new solar dying jars: One with juneberry leaves and thuya, one with oregano and madder root and then the one with the second bath from the tulips. Let’s have lots of sunshine for another 2 weeks now!
Meanwhile I’ll spin some shetlandwool to knit this sweater by Tori Seierstad: “Next Year in Lerwick”. I have seriously fallen for this wonderful fair-isle sweater design and I just have to knit it! First I need to spin the 11 colours though..

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Spinning and knitting heavy singles

I needed a quick-and-easy, but still good-looking, project. So I picked out five of my handpainted wool tops, combined the colours in a most complicated (not!) way and began the spinning..

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The final yarn is wonderful! Heavy, multicolour, and ten different skeins.

For the knitting project I decided on a short jacket or cardi, to be held together with one or maybe two buttons. Negative ease, tight fit. The fabric is very stretchy, so I think my idea will work fine!

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Right now I am working on the first sleeve, so hopefully I’ll soon be finished. The yarn knits up quickly on needles 6 mm. Love it so far!

I also dug deep in the pile of unfinished projects today.. Surfaced with something that is meant to become a blanket for my son. A stash-busting throw for his bed. In mitered square modules. Sat down and knitted a bit. Decided that I really need more blue yarns, so now I have fired up this little Cascade spindle and some royal blue fiber..

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The weather is fantastic, so I’m working out in the back yard today.. 🙂

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Sampling

That’s fun! I love sampling. I really enjoy knitting swatches, too. Sampling and swatching are activities so full of anticipation, curiosity, and the results are full of promises of beautiful things to come. Or maybe they are not.. Anyway, is’t an exiting process!

Today I spun a sample of one of my new monochromatic colorways, “Savoy”. A rich, strong, warm green hue. The fiber has both light and dark places, at times almost black.

I spun the fiber (Blue Faced Leicester, not shetland which is actually the fiber shown in the photo above.) using one of my supported spindles, a russian style spindle from Aaes. Then plied the two strands together using another beautiful Aaes-spindle:

– Now it needs a hot bath (the yarn, not the spindle..) and afterwards I think it will become wristwarmers.

By the way, another new colorway is on its way: a deep dark blue.

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New monochromatic colorways!

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You are looking at the colorway “Turmeric” (“Gurkemeje” in Danish). This color is one in a series of monochromatics or semi-solids that I’m working on right now. I have 6 coloursways ready by now which can be seen on the page of that very same name – see menu on top.

Another new one is “Dark Fuchsia”.
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I hand-paint these colorways on first quality wool top from various breeds or on luxury blends like wool/kidmohair, wool/silk, wool/bamboo and several other combinations.
The hand painted “wheels” are great for spinning and felting. If you would like to try one out please go to my website (no real web-shop yet, I’m afraid, but I’m working on that..) and check the in-stock list. You can also email me with your request. I accept PayPal or bank transfers.

Drying outside right now in the (rather chill) spring weather hangs one of my older colorways, a multi-colored named “Gypsy”. There’s a little bit of this one reserved for my own spinning pleasure – can’t wait untill it’s dry!