Dye experiment

I had in my stash a single skein of KnitPicks Chroma Twist in colour Hollyhock, which I hoped would go well with my winter coat which is a strange colour- neither blue nor purple but a colour in between. When I looked carefully I found that large areas of this yarn are is a greyed or dusty pink which did not “spark joy”. So what to do?

I have been experimenting with knitting two yarns together for some time. (Thank you Marianne Isager. Your Classic Knits book is a delight). My Neither Here nor There sweater is one of the results.

Recent experiments with mohair and wool combinations revealed that the colour of the mohair dominated every time in spite of it being such a thin yarn in comparison to the wool yarns. This gave me an idea. What if I found a kid mohair in the blue purple that I loved so much and knit that together with the Chroma Twist? Would the mohair subdue the greyed areas and make it look more blue-purple?

No matching kid mohair was in the stash so I got out my dye pot and mixed some blue and magenta Acid dyes (bought from Dharma Trading Co.) together.

I’m so pleased with this combination. The new Mohair really “sparks joy”.

The scarf pattern I’ve chosen is a simple one – just right for travel and chatting knitting.

Both my Grannies would have done the same – found something (the white mohair) and re-purposed it (by dyeing something they already had). Both lived in the Transkei where there was little to be had in those days. I tip my hat to them both.

Did you know that purple was the first aniline dye? The Victorians went crazy about it. If you are interested read further here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauveine