New Yarn Colors

While the 400 lbs. of raw fleece from our sheep that was shorn this spring are off at the mills being cleaned, carded, and spun, I still had a box of natural, undyed wool yarn from last year’s spinning.

Part of the reason for saving the undyed yarn was because Kara and I were interested in experimenting with some of our own dying, including a batch worked with real indigo dye. When still submerged, the yarn looks yellow, but once removed from the dye vat, it quickly oxidizes and turns green and then a very deep blue. After several rinses, the color lightens to a soft denim blue.

But we never did get back to dying the rest of the box of yarn. Then, when Kara and I were taking the puppies down to Platteville earlier this spring, on the way home we stopped in Viroqua to stretch our legs and catch a snack at the co-op. A windowed corner shop on Main Street caught our eye—called “Ewetopia” it proved to be a spacious yarn shop.

Upon entering, our fiber loving fingers were itching as our eyes delighted over colorful alpaca, twizzly novelty yarns, lofty woolens, and a myriad of patterns, needles, roving, and more. We probably could have stayed there for hours! But we still had that tremendously long drive back to the farm to make yet that night.

So Kara and I picked out a few fun things we felt we couldn’t live without and made our way to the counter. The owner, Kathryn, was very friendly, and we talked a little about her place and our place up north. Oh to have a resource like that closer to home! But the memory of the shop and Kathryn’s endeavor stayed with me after returning to the farm.

Then I stumbled upon the box of white yarn again and decided to send Kathryn a note. Lambing season was just around the corner, and we weren’t going to have any time to work up more dye vats. So I asked Kathryn (who has her own flock of sheep as well as the shop) if she ever did custom dye work for other people.

She responded right away with lots of enthusiasm. Custom dying for others was something new for her, but she had spent more time learning about our story after our visit to her shop, and she was excited about our endeavor. She uses an organic dye company that contains no heavy metals (yay!), and she was all for giving our project a try. I told her about the 36 skeins still on hand, and she gave me the assignment of working up some “colorways” for her to try.

Colors can be a complicated matter. Perhaps it starts with all those names on crayons, but it seems that even a relatively simple color term like “burgundy” is rife with interpretation. So, instead of trying to explain my desires of hues and shades, I went to my studio and the yarn stash.

I admit, I am a yarn hoarder. But when it’s time to make a new project, I have enough materials on hand to arrange a pleasing palate. This also came in handy when working on colorways—a snippet from this skein, a sample from that ball. Tied in three little bundles, I had a burgundy/russet/oak theme, a blue/turquoise/teal theme, and a purple/pink/violet theme.

Off the skeins and the colorway samples went to Kathryn. I had no idea how they would look on their return, but I was so impressed by her work in the shop that I was ready to trust the process. Just a couple weeks later, I received an enthusiastic email from Ewetopia, including the picture above. The colorways were rich, vibrant, and delightful—“I’d knit these up!” Kathryn wrote. I could hardly wait to see them myself.

Opening the box was like opening a present. The colors were so intense and tastefully variegated. Printing labels and adding them to the shelf, it was fun to give these latest skeins a “dye lot” name. On the left is “picking berries,” the middle “lapis,” and to the right “mulled wine.” Feel free to stop on by and check them out!

More natural yarns from this year’s fleeces will certainly be making their way over to Kathryn’s shop. It’s exciting to make these networking connections with other women fiber enthusiasts in the state and create beautiful product from our wooly friends. Need some yarn? See you down on the farm sometime.