yarn from the meadow - december
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#YarnFromTheMeadow takes inspiration from the small hay meadow that we live next to. A few acres of tussocky grass, grown to be cut for hay or silage, depending on the weather, and occasionally used as grazing for the cattle that are raised on the fields all around us. Bounded by an avenue of sweet chestnuts on one side, ancient oaks on the other and with a scruffy hedgerow bordering the lane, it's home to rabbits, mice, shrews, and voles; a hunting ground for a beautiful barn owl and untold kestrels and buzzards. Adjacent to fox earths, and badger setts, and criss-crossed with the well-worn tracks of the muntjac, fallow, and roe deer that pass through, I walk it with the dog, with Chris, and sometimes just to breath in the air and turn my face to the sun. And I take photos, endlessly. Of the views, the sky, the weather, the flora and fauna, the changing of the seasons.
I'll be using all of the above as inspiration for this year's limited-run series. Two shades each month throughout 2024, dyed on a variety of fingering weight yarn bases, using the dye technique that creates our gorgeous ~flash~ shades.
December – from our 'new' meadow! The last shades in our 2024 series but the start of something exciting! We've been settling into our new home/work base for a month now, and the morning dog walks and afternoon strolls are just as inspirational and restorative as the meadow we knew and loved for the past eleven years. The view from our house is huge - across small pastures, edged with stately trees, and all under the most enormous sky! There are birds of prey, deer, foxes and so much more but the thing that caught my eye as I stared out at the view on this particular afternoon was the merest hint of a sundog rainbow. If you enlarge the photo you can just see a shimmer of violet, pink, and yellow amongst the glowing clouds. I couldn't resist playing with a rainbow for the very last in the series, and sundog is a gorgeous blend of soft lemony green, palest creamy lemon and those little flashes of pink and violet, apricot and yellow.
The second shade has a much more 'December' feel to it because the 'anticyclonic gloom' that the weather reporters have been so keen to tell us all about has cast its shadow over us too. There's always 'colour' to be found, though, even in what looks to be a black and white image at first glance. This look up through the bare canopy of one of the magnificent old oak trees that borders our new meadow reveals hints of icy blue, deep woody charcoal, anthracite, and warm taupe, and playing with 'monochrome' tones is one of my favourite things to do. Winterlight contains multitudes within its 'greys' and I love it!
Both shades are dyed on pightle | fingering/4ply, our trusty superwash merino base that is perfect for scarves, shawls, and lightweight garments.
We use professional acid dyes with good light and wash fastness and do our best to exhaust every dye bath and reuse water wherever possible to reduce any further environmental impact. Occasionally a small amount of 'loose' dye may remain in the yarn after rinsing (most likely with deeply saturated shades) and we always recommend hand washing in very cool water and pre-washing your yarn separately if you are intending to mix light and dark shades in a single garment/project.
We recommend hand washing your finished projects in cool water to preserve the vibrancy of the dye and, as with all small-batch, hand-dyed yarn that doesn't have dye lots, we also recommend knitting alternate rows from two skeins when working on larger projects to avoid noticeable changes between skeins.