A New Hat for Winter!
That little thought started me off on a journey…
One of the reasons I decided to learn how to spin was to be able to have a say in the yarn I knit with, instead of relying on commercial offerings only. When knitting the hat below, I was a little disappointed with the graduations of blue available to me.
So I’m going to try and produce a sequence of yarn that can be used for a new fair isle hat. I’m a relative newbie when in comes to spinning (about six months) and very recently started dyeing. This was my first attempt at mixing non-primary or secondary colours from the three primaries and was quite happy with the results.
The colours are as they came out of the dye-pot. I’ve deliberately not levelled the oranges and browns to increase the ‘heathery-ness’ factor. All of the blue/green set are quite level and even. The two oranges were dyed with the silver corriedale, the rest with the medium corriedale.
The shades of blue are a little too far apart for what I had in mind, so now my dyeing/spinning/knitting project has expanded to include blending on my drum carder…
To produce a graduating sequence of colour, I’m thinking something along the lines of:
- Blend dusty blue with undyed silver/white
- Use dusty blue as is
- Blend dusty blue with navy
- Use navy as is
Hopefully if I can make this blending project work, I’ll have a more even progression from light to dark and back again (and the yarn will have a heathered look which I love as well).
I think I’ve got most of what I want before I start blending, but I’ll need a ’stand-out’ colour to lift it, since the colours I have are quite subdued. Maybe a red, but don’t want it to blend too closely to the browns and oranges – perhaps a muted reddish-purple.
I’m still in two minds about the two oranges as well - too close together for my liking. Could possibly blend the lighter one with some undyed silver/gray to lighten it a bit and move it away from the orange/brown.
February 28th, 2008 at 8:57 pm
Your hat is gorgeous! I know we knitters have the perfect design in our head, and we’re disappointed when the item doesn’t quite match our vision. I think the colors look fantastic.
March 15th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
I don’t knit at all, but found this new hat for winter to be WONDERFUL in composition and colorways! You did good!
Suzanne
ps: found you on ravelry
November 1st, 2008 at 11:47 pm
I love the hat! Your colors look really nice!
September 10th, 2016 at 11:21 pm
Hello. It is a lovely hat! I like the colors too. I am a newbie with color work and am trying Scandinavian patterns. How can I obtain the hat pattern?
It is so lovely!
Happy Knitting!
Ruth