Thursday, November 19, 2009

Ironwood Yarn ~ From Naturally Dyed Roving


On November 12, I wrote a post about some finely milled ironwood I was given and my plan to work on my natural dyeing techniques. Next I came back to show the results of my first batch of wool dyed with the wood. Then I played around with a couple more batches of ironwood dyed wool.

All of this has led up to my brand new skein of yarn I'm calling Ironwood Stripes. To create this yarn, I used an ounce of the darker ironwood in BFL and an ounce of the lighter in Merino. I alternated between the two to form a striping single.

To make this skein a little more interesting, I joined the two colors with a short length of Firestar that I dyed with the ironwood as well. This gives the yarn a subtle sparkle which I think is nice given the neutrality of the tones.

All in all, the yarn comes to 2.4oz and 262 yards. This is a sport weight single and the twist is very well set. I confess that I kind of pride myself on that. This yarn is seriously one of a kind so I am hoping 262 yards is enough for a complete project. As a crocheter, I know there are quite a few accessories I could make, but I'm less familiar with knitting and the amounts needed to knit different items. Of course it could always be combined with other yarns to create a larger project.

I have enjoyed my little journey with ironwood and natural dyeing. I still have some left so there is more adventure to come!

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