Cherry Blossom Sky Dye

Nature tricks us in many ways. For example, as women grow older, they put on fat in places, like faces, they never did before. The trick is that without that fat, faces would show the lines of age far more obviously. Also, with age, eyesight degrades. Thus the husband of the woman with a fat-disguised wrinkled face can't quite see the effects of time on his formerly beautiful wife.

Another trick of nature is springtime. Oh yes, we love the spring with its beautiful little crocuses and daffodils, the cherry trees in full bloom against the watercolor blue sky; we smile at the chirping of baby birds and notice the light green growth at the ends of the evergreen limbs. But it's all a trick-- used to make us look forward to spring rather than dreading the Season of Allergies.

So it was that Kit wended her way toward Happy Holler yesterday, taking in the beauty of cherry blossoms and springtime while I held my head in both hands and prayed for release from my annual torture. You know the saying, "don't wish for something because you may get what you asked for"? Well, I was wishing really hard that I could get past the torture of these allergy symptoms.

We consulted The Books -- Deb Menz's Color In Spinning and my Lanaset Dyer's Reference, and chose the colors we were aiming for. You already know that Kit wanted cherry blossom springtime. As for me, I chose a piece of quilting fabric on which I really liked the color combination, a sort of cool red, red violet, olive and a touch of yellow (these on a black background, but I wasn't going with the black).

Kit chose to paint a really drab skein of naturally drab, drab boucle. Did I mention it was very drab? Well, here it is after she has painted it but before it has been steamed. Very cherry blossom, wouldn't you say?

I didn't take a picture of my three short rovings prior to steaming because they looked like nothing so much as the result of a really brutal boxing match.

Mr. Westinghouse obliged us by steaming the water we provided, and a short while later we removed our artistry and surveyed the result. Astonishingly, the pastels of springtime had deepened into the vibrant colors of summer. Here we see the skein of boucle post-washing (with the help of our valuable assistant)...

and post-drying.

Is it not a beautiful thing? Interestingly enough, we compared each section of color to the original sample Kit chose as a color she wanted, and they were perfect matches. The lesson? Choose a color two or three shades lighter than what you want, because your perception of small samples of yarn is like unto that of a small paint chip in the hardware store, and when you see a whole lot of it, it will look a whole lot darker.

As for me and my three rovings, the bruises healed remarkably well in the steamer and washing/drying process, and here are my results.

I'm still in the process of spinning some samples due to the unexpected and sudden granting of my wish to forget my allergies. As I was cleaning up the utility room/dye lab (which, by the way, is very small-- don't be fooled by the perspective of the pictures) I tried to shut the window but it was stuck. So, intending to open it a bit more in order to try again, I pulled it hard and it suddenly released, slamming my right thumb between it and the edge of the facing. I have touched white-hot metal, borne three children, endured recovery from major surgery and a pinched nerve, but this... this was more painful than all those put together. Allergies? What are those?

P.S. The washer and dryer have received quite a few comments. These are Sears' Kenmore Elite appliances, and I had nothing to do with their purchase, though I believe The Gray did an excellent job of choosing a good pair. Our prior appliances were in their 20's when one evening as we were upstairs watching the movie "Pearl Harbor", we noticed that as the bombing and shelling of that ill-fated port commenced, the realism was awe-inspiring. We actually smelled the smoke. We looked at each other about the time my daughter yelled up from the basement, "did you know the dryer is on fire?!!" So it was that these big alien-looking things came to live here.

Another P.S.: Kim of Practical Crafts is responsible for the wonderful name of Kelsey Creek for my sweater. In the comments of a couple of entries back, she suggested this, and I found it absolutely enchanting. Thanks, Kim!

Here's Kelsey Creek in its current state, waist-shaping decreases nearing their end.

Posted by Sheila at March 4, 2005 07:27 AM Posted to Dyeing | TrackBack