Inspiration!
I've always admired people who set projects for themselves in their knitting. Like people who resolves to knit all of Nancy Bush's sock patterns, or knit a Norwegian sweater in 16 days. That sort of thing. But I don't ever have enough patience for that sort of thing.Then inspiration struck!
I'm not much of a dyer, but I was just listening to Lime & Violet and they were describing the gorgeous colours of several hand-dyed sock yarns. And I thought: why can't I make my own project in dyeing? I'd learn new colours and how to blend and I'd have nine gorgeous yarns at the end!
Why nine?
Because I've always lusted after Sweet Georgia's yarns named after the Whedonverse: Slayer, Firefly, Angel, Willow and so on. So . . . I'm going to make NINE different colourways, each for a character in Firefly.
From left to right: Jayne, Kaylee, Book, Simon, Inara, Mal, Zoe, Wash and River.Are you crazy?
Probably. I've never dyed yarn with a specific goal in mind before, and my variegated were all shockingly contrasted - cool in the skein, ugly knit up. I think I'll start with just trying to get a gentle handpainted effect with one colour, and move up to variegation. So it would make sense to start with Simon (ice, ice blue and white) and move my way up to River (schizo!).
Doesn't this go against your rules about not buying yarn?
This'll be sock yarn (that way I can dye small amounts and not have stupidly small amounts of yarn about), and that doesn't count.
Won't the yarn for nine pairs of socks plus testing cost a lot?
Yes. But it's not like I'm going to be working on Lorna's Laces here. There's a nice (German?) sock yarn at my LYS that's $3.99 for 50 gm, and KnitPicks looks like it has good prices for what I want too. Plus, I'm not looking at this like stash exhancement. It's going to be a new craft (dyeing), with yarn that I'll likely swap or gift away. Plus, how much does KoolAid cost? And maybe I'll only do 50 gms of some yarn and just make it into socks with contrasting heels and cuffs and so on.
Ideas?
Jayne: Warm, earthy tones. Dark teal, brown, maroon. Jayne's always touching things, always eating; something hearty.
Kaylee: different shades of pink for her tiered dress in "Shindig," with shades of beige and pale brown blending in for her connection to Serenity.
Book: Perhaps tawny deerskin with very small splashes of red, like confetti or tweed.
Simon: cold and clinical. Two by two, hands of blue. Like the hospital in "Ariel." (Don't get the impression I don't like Simon from this - I do.)
Inara: Rich, luxurious, colours. Deep purple and red, like her shuttle, and champagne for wealth and her dress in "Shindig."
Let me pause now and say, I AM SUCH A NERD. Thank you. Let's continue.
Mal: Brown (duh). But a gentle, changing brown, like Simon's changing shades of blue.
Zoe: This is the same problem as Book. We just don't know enough about Zoe. I'm leaning towards (surprise!) brown, with hints of pink and red. Essentially the same colours as Kaylee, but the balance is inverted.
Wash: Hawaiian shirt time! This will come at the very very end. I was in Chapters yesterday reading vol. 1 of the official guide to Firefly, and Alan Tudyk noted that he was essentially Xander (he's from Buffy - keep up, now) in space. So how cool is it that Bezzie just finished her Xander sweater?
Note: there are a few Firefly eps that feature handknits. One is the ever-famous Jayne Cobb hat in "The Message," which has been duplicated lots of times (it's on my list, I assure you). You'll notice I didn't mention it in my thoughts for Jayne's colours. That's because while it's cool and all, I don't think of orange, yellow and red representing Jayne very well. Same thing for Wash. He wears a very intricate Aran in "Out of Gas," and while it's gorgeous and all, what's the point of dyeing yarn for an Aran sock?
River: Ohhhhh, it's schizo yarn time. Rainbow without being rainbow (you know what I mean? Lots of colours that blend into each other without necessarily being Roy G. Biv). And then, splashes of red!
I don't think KoolAid has a brown colour. Ooops.
posted by Sarah @ 9:47 AM
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