I’ve never loved a Sweater that I’ve made more. And I’ve made quite a few over the last 15 years.
Knit from the bottom up in the round. I’ve knit a few from the top down in the round so I struggled with wrapping my brain around the yoke instructions because of what I was used to. So I reverted back to a different pattern for the yolk just to see how the decreases were explained and looked and not only did it help, but it looks the same to me in the end. I’m really happy with the neck line too. I often don’t get this piece right on my sweaters.
The color play was so exciting for me as rainbows always are. In the sweater I used for the red; madder root. Orange; madder root with cream of tartar (an acid modifier in the dye bath). Yellow; goldenrod and safflower. Green; goldenrod, tansy, and indigo. Blue; indigo. Purple; fermented umbilicaria lichen, logwood, and cochineal.
The white was all knit in my undyed Maine Island yarn which was just a dream in itself. Plenty of body but with all the plump softness.
The colors were mostly from the same batch but also a little bit of hand spun scraps and test dyed scraps were used too to fill in gaps of colors I ran out of.
If you’re interested in any of the single colors from the sweater, the above slide shows the best color substitutions still available in my shop.
Here are the direct links to each color separately. You’ll also discover all the colors in between. Slán!
Cochineal dyed with Mexican cochineal beetles.
Soft Coral dyed in a left over cochineal bath and then a left over tansy bath.
Medomak Goldenrod dyed in foraged goldenrod at Medomak Retreat Center in Washington, Maine, 2021.
Juniper dyed in a weak tansy bath and then dipped 3 times in indigo.
Denim dipped 3 times in my franken indigo vat.
Violet dipped 3 times in my franken indigo vat and then steeped for a very long time in a cochineal bath.
