So, in the madness that was the “All I Want for Christmas” giveaway, you might have missed us adding Juniper Moon Farm “A Year at the Farm” Sock Club for 2014. I’m really excited to start dyeing the sock club yarns for 2014 and I have all kinds of ideas running through my head. At the beginning of each month, I’ll be writing a blog post showing off the yarn that I dyed and show you what’s happening at the farm that was my inspiration for that colorway. I have lots of ideas so far, lambing, the spring shearing celebration, the weather, our harvest. I’m hoping that I’ll always get close to my inspiration, but one thing I know about dyeing is that you have to embrace the mistakes because they just might turn out to be something awesome.
Like 2013′s December yarn. It started out as November’s yarn. I was going for a lovely brown color like a turkey. I had been imagining that yarn since September when I was dyeing share yarn, so I had a very specific idea in mind. But when the dye was shipped to me, the brown wasn’t there. So I started improvising, trying to get a brown. I started by mixing some red, orange, and some blue dye, thinking I might end up with a reddish brown. The color looked pretty good in the dye jar, so I put it and the yarn into the dye pot. When it was done, I had beautiful, deep purplish red yarn, with a lot of white still. So I added some green because red and green make brown. I mixed two different colors of green, one that had more blue and one that had more yellow. Added that to the dye pot and put the yarn back in. When the dye exhausted, I looked into the pot and I wasn’t pleased with what I saw.
I was ready to start adding more dye (because you can keep adding color until the yarn just won’t take any more and we were no where near that point, yet), but a little voice told me to slow down. I needed to allow the yarn to to dry and see how it actually looked. The most important thing to me was that it didn’t look muddy and I started to worry that by mixing all these different dyes that they might start to make the yarn look blah. So I pulled the yarn out and let it dry.
As soon as I did, I discovered that I really liked the colorway, even though it definitely wasn’t a November colorway. It was clearly a December colorway.
I called it Farmhouse Christmas. Red and Green in sepia-tones. And you know what? I’ve gotten the most emails from our club members about it. One person said that the colors glowed, just like a Christmas yarn should. Another person said that they didn’t celebrate Christmas, but that they really liked this yarn. It’s a subtle blend of colors, not loud and flashy. I can’t wait to see how it knits up! So sock club members, please share your finished knits! So far, the only finished sock I’ve seen is Julie’s!
We did some other fun yarns this year and experimented with some techniques. Tying knots into the yarn and over-dyeing:
Dip dying:
Kool Aid Dyeing:
We didn’t manage to take photos of every month. In 2014, I’m going to keep one hank of each color that we dye so that I can see how the whole year looks together. With over 5,000 yards of sock yarn I could definitely make a blanket, or have a whole passel of handknit socks, but I’ve got Christmas ornaments on my mind. Something that will reflect, well, a year at the farm, in a wooly-harvest-of-color kind of way.
I’m still waiting for more yarn and the bags that each hank will be packaged in to arrive, so I’ve been dreaming up colorways and doing a little light reading. I’m always interested in learning new techniques and new ways of thinking about things, so I often immerse myself is research to find inspiration.
That means that there’s still time for you to join in the fun. There are 14 slots left in the club and membership sign ups will be open until the 10th, which will give me a couple of days to dye before the first shipment goes out.
I’ve been thinking of doing a three-month membership option where people could join for as few as three months or break down their yearly membership payments into four installments spaced out over the course of the year. I’ve been looking at some software that would make this easier to handle, but it is an investment, so I want to see if people would be interested in this option (assuming that we have any slots left after January 10th). You asked for it, we listened! Payment plan options are now available. Please see the listing for details. Please note, this is the first time we’re trying this software, and although I read the manual very carefully, there is the possibility that something isn’t quite right. If so, I beg patience as we figure it out and fix it!
After the first batch of yarn has started to reach club members, I’ll share January’s colorway and inspiration with you!
My Surf’s Up mitts were designed for the Yarnover Truck launch. I love these mitts! To me they shout SoCal and surf culture. Photoshoots are not my favorite thing — I tend to procrastinate on them more than anything else — but this one was fun.
