While taking a stroll early one Sunday morning after the rains had cleared, I spotted this beautiful little flower twined around an old rusty chain link fence. I loved the colors of the flowers, how they go from pink to orange, and have the yellow stamens dangling in the sunlight.
Of course, I HAD to run right home and try and capture those colors in some hand painted merino wool top. I think I did pretty good on this series. My plan was to do a skein of the golden, one of the pink, and then do a nice 2-ply of pink/gold so that it’ll visually look a bit orange, and then a single skein of green. In my mind, I can already see the way the colors will look, and how I want to weave them when it comes time…
Once the actual spinning took place, all that hand dyed fiber turned into this glorious collection of handspun yarn, with six main skeins. It has become, in my four years of hand-spinning, the most elaborate grouping of yarn for one project.
Above, from left to right: pink/natural, pink, pink/gold, gold, gold/green, and green.
And, each yarn and their details:
Yarn Details-
Color: Honeysuckle Pink White
Fiber Source: My own hand painted Merino wool
Fiber Content: 100% merino wool, fiber imported from Australia
Spun on: Schacht Matchless Spinning Wheel
Yardage: 351 yds
Finished Weight: 2 7/8 oz
WPI: 20
Ply: 2
Yarn Details-
Color: Honeysuckle Pink
Fiber Source: My own hand painted Merino wool
Fiber Content: 100% merino wool, fiber imported from Australia
Spun on: Schacht Matchless Spinning Wheel
Yardage: 640 yds
Finished Weight: 5 1/8 oz
WPI: 20
Ply: 2
Yarn Details-
Color: Honeysuckle Pink Gold
Fiber Source: My own hand painted Merino wool
Fiber Content: 100% merino wool, fiber imported from Australia
Spun on: Schacht Matchless Spinning Wheel
Yardage: 260 yds
Finished Weight: 2 oz
WPI: 20
Ply: 2
Yarn Details-
Color: Honeysuckle Gold
Fiber Source: My own hand painted Merino wool
Fiber Content: 100% merino wool, fiber imported from Australia
Spun on: Schacht Matchless Spinning Wheel
Yardage: 530 yds
Finished Weight: 4 1/4 oz
WPI: 20
Ply: 2
Yarn Details-
Color: Honeysuckle Gold Green
Fiber Source: My own hand painted Merino wool
Fiber Content: 100% merino wool, fiber imported from Australia
Spun on: Schacht Matchless Spinning Wheel
Yardage: 225 yds
Finished Weight: 1 3/4 oz
WPI: 20
Ply: 2
Yarn Details-
Color: Honeysuckle Green
Fiber Source: My own hand painted Merino wool
Fiber Content: 100% merino wool, fiber imported from Australia
Spun on: Schacht Matchless Spinning Wheel
Yardage: 535 yds
Finished Weight: 4 1/8 oz
WPI: 20
Ply: 2
Yarn Details-
Color: Honeysuckle Pink Green
Fiber Source: My own hand painted Merino wool
Fiber Content: 100% merino wool, fiber imported from Australia
Spun on: Schacht Matchless Spinning Wheel
Yardage: 132 yds
Finished Weight: 7/8 oz
WPI: 20
Ply: 2
Yarn Details-
Color: Trilogy
Fiber Source: My own hand painted Merino wool
Fiber Content: 100% merino wool, fiber imported from Australia
Spun on: Schacht Matchless Spinning Wheel
Yardage: 16 yds
Finished Weight: 1/8 oz
WPI: 16
Ply: 3
And I have now, officially, broken my spinning record for ALL of 2008! In 2008, I spun a total of 13, 723 yards of finished yarn, which equals 7.80 miles. This year, in only about 6 weeks or so since I got my Matchless Spinning Wheel in the end of April, I’ve spun 16, 466 yards (9.36 miles) and 9.19 POUNDS of fiber! Woohoo! And I can’t wait to start weaving it.
Mel
Very nice. But the flower is Lonicera sempervirens – trumpet honeysuckle. Unlike the invasive Japanese and Asian species, it’s a native honeysuckle.The red color makes it attractive to hummingbirds, which are important pollinators for this species.
Jun 24, 2009 @ 1:14 am
Daniela
Hi David,
I have to delurk for this one. Absolutely beautiful! I’m myself a big fan of colour, and your blog, which I found about a month ago, is so full of it! And those cats don’t hurt either
I started spinning this year, and weaving will be a not so far away option me thinks…
Greetings from France
Daniela
Jun 24, 2009 @ 1:40 am
jackie
It looks as if you are having so much fun exploring colors in yarn! Beautiful colours and wonderful blending!
16,466 yards? Who needs to go to the gym? You must have calves of steel!
Jun 24, 2009 @ 4:45 am
vanessa
you are a color genius!
Jun 24, 2009 @ 6:06 am
Benita
I am in awe.
Jun 24, 2009 @ 6:34 am
Paula
That is a stunning series of yarns and a wonderful rendition of the original inspiration. I can’t wait to see what you weave with it!
Jun 24, 2009 @ 6:36 am
Cindy
Yes, you have captured the flower! I am anxious to see how you will weave it.
Jun 24, 2009 @ 7:02 am
holli
You just keep outdoing yourself. Stunning. I was just talking with a friend about color yesterday, when picking fabrics for quilts, of which I know you are also a master. It’s a gift, that eye for color, and you’ve got it. Can’t wait to see where this project goes.
Jun 24, 2009 @ 7:20 am
Debbie
Breathtakingly beautiful….you truly have an eye for color
Jun 24, 2009 @ 7:30 am
Ginger
What a nice way to honor and portray the trumpet honeysuckle. Beautiful – can’t beat Mother Nature for her color prompts!
Jun 24, 2009 @ 7:45 am
Chris
Wow. When’s your book coming out?
Jun 24, 2009 @ 7:55 am
Manise
Wow! Hats off to you!
Jun 24, 2009 @ 7:57 am
Roxie
Squeee! And you do such fabulous documentation of the work. This is the very best eye-candy! Makes me yearn to grope and fondle it that yarn. You give great skein!
Jun 24, 2009 @ 7:57 am
jessica~
So beautiful!!!!!!!!!! I have that honeysuckle – it’s pretty but not as fragrant as the plain looking one.
Jun 24, 2009 @ 8:26 am
kitkatknit
mmm, I think it’s been asked before, when do you find time to sleep?? Lovin’ the colorways!
Jun 24, 2009 @ 9:15 am
Leslie
A great color progression!
Jun 24, 2009 @ 9:55 am
Heide
These colors are absolutely gorgeous. You could make a coffee table book featuring pictures of your handspun and weaving. It’s all so very lovely.
Jun 24, 2009 @ 10:29 am
LaurieM
Oh, now those are totally your colors! Bright, hot and very pretty.
Jun 24, 2009 @ 10:30 am
Heidi
Pretty good? You THINK?
I was on hike yesterday and I came across a stunning combination of wildflowers and native grasses, and I wondered how I could pull those colors out in yarn. And I realized–I’M CHANNELING DAVE!
Jun 24, 2009 @ 10:47 am
Michelle
How fun to mix all those colors! And congrats on spinning so much fiber this year.
Jun 24, 2009 @ 11:11 am
Kathie Kelleher
Gorgeous!
I hope these yarns will all get woven together.
They look so happy together.
Congratulations on breaking your 2008 record.
It’s that Matchless, for sure.
Well, that and you
Jun 24, 2009 @ 11:22 am
Divine Bird Jenny
Absolutely amazing. I am sincerely inspired by this set–I am ready to grab some solid colored fibre from my stash and start spinning RIGHT NOW.
Jun 24, 2009 @ 12:00 pm
Doris
As always, your color sense astounds me…just gorgeous!
Jun 24, 2009 @ 1:49 pm
Susan
We call that trumpet vine here and I hahve some growing wild in my yard. The hummers love it.
Great color combo’s Dave!
Susan
On Vancouver Island
Jun 24, 2009 @ 2:33 pm
Debe
Thank you for your blog Dave, you have inspired me to get my loom and wheel going again!
Do you ever show the dying process?
Jun 24, 2009 @ 5:04 pm
Joe
Dave, your spinning is amazingly even! I’m still fighting the drop spindle so I’m very impressed. And how do you keep track of stats like that? I can’t remember the yarn I used last week nevertheless how many miles of it I used!
Jun 24, 2009 @ 7:34 pm
Jill
Absolutely stunning colors & yarns – I’ve yet to attempt dyeing. All I can say is WOW – now I want to try for sure!
Jun 25, 2009 @ 12:00 am
Robin
GORGEOUS!
Jul 01, 2009 @ 9:28 am