Wandering through a meadow is one of my favourite things to do, and we've been lucky enough to live in and amongst meadows for the last twenty or so years. In Suffolk it's very easy to spend most of the time looking up at the huge skies but this year I'm going to focus on exploring what's closer to hand/eye. I'm going to hunt down the amazing micro-palettes in the blades of grass, the berries, the fence posts and field gates, and create shades that show another aspect of the fields all around us. I'm going to be looking at the textures and detail up close but most of all, I'm hunting for fabulous colour combinations to inspire beautiful yarn!

Each month I'll use one photo to create two shades; one variegated ~flash~ shade and a complimentary/contrasting semi-solid. I'll be focussing on fingering/4ply weight yarn and often the two shades will be on the same base but occasionally I might take liberties and dye something fluffy!

July – the earth is rock hard, the grass is yellow, and the air is dusty from the harvest going on all around us – the landscape feels positively brutal at the moment – but some little moments of soft, delicate beauty exist if you just know where to look...

Inspired by the arching ethereal stems of common vervain (our native Verbena) growing from a crack at the edge of a concrete step. This isn't the trendy Verbena Bonariensis beloved of 'dry garden' designers but a smaller, less showy, but nonetheless beautiful cousin that catches the light on a hazy summer morning perfectly...

Both shades are dyed on lode | fingering, a blend of 80% non-superwash extrafine merino and 20% linen with 400m per 100g skein. It has been designed with socks in mind, for those who prefer their fibre untreated and want to avoid nylon. The linen gives this yarn strength and longevity, and while it is perfect for socks, it's also great for lightweight garments with a little bit of structure and it gives great stitch definition for lace and cables.

There are a couple of batches of each shade in the shop and ready-to-ship right now and if demand is there I may pop another batch or two in the dye pans later this week!

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.
 

lode | sock
weight: fingering/4ply
fibre: 80% wool - non-superwash extrafine merino, 20% linen
needle size: 2.00 - 3.75 mm (depending on gauge required)
metres: 400m per 100gm skein
care: Hand wash in cold water using gentle wool detergent