2016-17 Fiber Club colorway round-up
Every year I like to write a post chronicling what I sent out to the fiber club. If you're considering joining the Fiber Club this year, looking through these will give you some idea of the kinds of fiber I send out and the colorways I come up with.
When I'm thinking about new colorways for the club, I always start by making a moodboard. I just grab a lot of images from Pinterest that have similar colors and group them together. Below I've posted the moodboards and some pictures of the fiber (and in some cases yarn) that the moodboards became.
Despite the fact that I took a huge number of photographs this year, I did not do a very consistent job of documenting the club fiber. There are lots of colorways I didn't photograph, for whatever reason. So lots of the pics below are club members' photos, from Instagram. I'm so grateful to them for giving me permission to use them here. And seriously, folks, go check out their wonderfully fiber-centric feeds.
Along with the multicolored colorways I design for the club, I also offer coordinating semisolids; some of those are pictured below, but I'm focusing on the multis here.
July 2016: Shetland
Austen
Bronte
I was pleased with how both of these turned out. I love how the sweetness of the pastels in Austen is tempered by the cool gray; you'll definitely see this colorway on other fibers in the future. Below are two shots from Instagram to give you a sense of the fiber.
Austen, by @knittyzen
Here's Bronte, with its coordinating semisolid, Aubergine, from @claudiachristinemeyer.
September 2016: Whitefaced Woodland
Painted Lady
Russian Squirrel
These I have pictures of! I absolutely loved both of these colorways, and they are both going into the regular rotation. Love, love, love. (And the Whitefaced Woodland was dreamy.)
Painted Lady
Russian Squirrel and its accompanying semi-solid, imaginatively called "Russian Squirrel Orange."
November 2016: Southdown
I liked both of these quite a bit, though I'll probably tweak the lime green in
Mexico a bit going forward to make it a little greener.
Here's @owlcatdesigns' Cranberry Bog (plus an undyed braid).
Club member Laura Walters spun her Southdown into a three-ply yarn and knit it into these stunning socks.
Possibly the most beautiful socks ever.
January 2017: Rambouillet
Orion
Rosette
OMG, guys, this was my favorite pair of the year! I loved them. And they both spun up beautifully. These will both go into my regular repertoire.
Every time I look at this picture, my heart sings. These beautiful singles in Orion (and the gorgeous pic) are from @lschildress.
March 2017: Teeswater
Lavenderia
Mardi Gras
Finally, some of my own pictures! Because the Teeswater takes color so intensely, Lavenderia wasn't nearly as pastel-y as I originally intended. I'm excited to try it on a different wool. I wasn't sure about Mardi Gras until I saw Janelle's yarn (pictured below). Spinning this colorway as a singles was a brilliant choice, because the reds and greens aren't competing with one another, as they likely would in a plied yarn.
Lavenderia
Mardi Gras
Gorgeous Teeswater singles from @jlwinpa.
May 2017: Polwarth/Silk
Nantucket
Cape May
I always want to go with something summery for May. I loved the simplicity of the blues and yellow in Nantucket, and, as usual, threw in a bit of that de-saturated blue gray to complicate things a bit. And I love the combinations of the slightly desaturated not-quite-pastels in Cape May.
@jlwinpa's Nantucket, which she captioned "Summer in Fiber Form."
Of course, if you're a white-wool purist like Beth Smith, you always have the options to get your club fiber undyed, like Penny, whose collection is below. ;-)
I love this picture from @pziarnik.
