Muted Colour Inspiration

 A Sunrise on the south coast of the Isle of Wight- Ventnor.

 Steep Hill Cove Beach- Ventnor
Peddles, rocks and sea

Looking across to Ventnor Harbour

A seaside collection of driftwood

 The promise of Spring- Snowdrops

Muted Colour Inspiration

These wonderful colours were just singing out to me on a beautiful February day.

I'm drawn to the blues, greys, lavenders, the soft tangerine oranges and browns. Light is so precious in the winter days and to be bathed in the gentle winter sun absorbing the muted hues of the sky, sea and land is so inspiring.

I gather my yarns to plan a weave.

Won The Double!

 May Time is when our WSD Guild have their annual competition. I entered two categories this year.

I'm so pleased and chuffed as I retained the "Marleen Upton Cup" for my Weaving!
and came joint 1st in The Novice Cup for my Art Yarn
 

My Saori Handwoven Asymmetric Light Weight Tunic

(Weaving Cup)

 My Art Yarn was hand spun using the hand painted fleece and tops I blogged about in April.
( The Novice Cup- new skill learnt)

Shetland fleece with Merino tops,

Hand washed, Hand carded,

Hand painted with Landscape dyes,

Hand spun coiled with a base 4ply yarn,

Producing a novelty thick and thin yarn with Slubs.

I loved making my own art yarn from scratch and I'm really looking forward to using it in my weaving and knitting designs. 

Hand Painted - Fleece and Yarn

 On a sunny spring day it was good to get out into the garden and produce some colourful
Hand painting fleece and yarn.

 I used Landscape Dyes Sample Kits- Desert and Mountain.

First I put my skeins and fleece in some warm soapy water to soak, while I prepared small pots of dye to paint with.

 Adding hot water to the dye is all that is needed as each pot is "a simple one pot dye system"

 The fun bit is just being creative!
I used the dyes to paint my yarn, letting the colours bleed into each other, over colouring and mixing to give me subtle toned shades.

 I love the gentle soft tones of these dyes when they are used in this way.

 To set the colour the hand spun skeins and carded fleece are cooked in the steamer for 40 minutes.

 Then allowed to cool for a short time before being rinsed in clean water and left in the sunshine to dry.

I'm so pleased with the colours. I shall spin the fleece into Art Yarn and the skeins I'll add to my stash  to await either a knitting or weaving project.