Welcome Sock Clubbers

I hope you enjoy this new format of a dyer's journal of sorts. It is a work in progress - I'll need to do some sprucing up on the template to make it pretty, but for now, I'll share some thoughts about sock club and here's and there's about how I come up with color ideas and what's happening in the studio during our favorite time of the the month - dyeing time!

This month's inspiration comes from the garden and of course, climbing!
As many of you know already, I'm an avid rock climber. It's a fairly new sport to me (about 18 months now) yet I've taken to it like a bee to honey. While I enjoy climbing at a local gym, what I really love is to get out for a good hike and then spend some time up on "real rock" (we call them "crags"). Out in the mountains I can feel my worries and stresses totally relax, while my heart races out of excitement (and a little fear!) And, most importantly I get to surround myself with nature and all sorts of vivid colors that our world has to offer.

The inspiration for the "Belle" colorway comes from a patch of spring flowers that I spotted on a recent climb. They look a little like pansies, yet I'm not exactly sure of what they are. Not quite blue, but not really purple, these little lovelies had deeper hints of color with a very soft gradation towards the outer edges of the petal. Oh how I wanted to pick some, but there weren't very many and I do like to tread softly on my ventures. Can anyone identify these??

The idea for "Leaf" came from this lovely Columbine plant I recently purchased for my garden. These mottled leaves are so pretty - and although it hasn't bloomed yet, I can only guess from the little picture on the planting instructions that the blue flowers it will produce will be quite close to the "Belle" colorway. The picture to the left are the wet skeins waiting to be rinsed. Doesn't the green really look like that leaf??

These were really fun to dye. Of course they will look great for socks and the Belle colorway, with it's subtle shading will be wonderful for shawls, scarves, etc. And for fun, I did a little Ravelry query on leaf patterns. How fun to make something with a leaf design from "Leaf"!

If you're interested in more, I have a few "knotty" skeins left from this batch. Also, I was very careful this time around in notating the formulas, so I can dye more. Enjoy!!