Polar Opposite Sock Project – Step 1 by
Pegg Thomas
I love to make socks. I love to make socks so much that my sock
drawer is over flowing. This isn’t a bad thing, but what on earth am
I doing making more socks?!? So to justify this new pair, I’m going
to choose Christmas colors. You see, I don’t have a Christmas pair
of socks! There, my dilemma is resolved.
Another good reason for choosing red and green is because they appear
opposite each other on the color wheel. If you aren’t familiar with
the color wheel, Google has a good image of one here.
Colors that are opposite each other are considered complementary colors.
Deb Menz wrote a great book, Color in Spinning, that
I did a review of. It’s is a wonderful resource if you’re not confident
choosing colors that work together.
Now that I’ve chosen my colors, I’d love to write about how I arrived
at my choice of fiber from years of work and research into the best wearing,
best feeling and most appropriate type of wool for socks. The ugly
truth is I’m using what I have on hand. This fiber is what I call
“nasty old Hamp”. Not all Hampshire wool, which is a down breed, is
nasty, but take it from me… this is! It’s the leftover stuff from
the last shearing of my son’s Hamps. I dyed it all up with Jacquard
dyes and have it boxed by color and available to play around with.
Hamp wool can be tricky to spin fine but I’ve done enough to be comfortable
with it.
I’ve decided that I want to make 6 color changes between the red and
green. This will break down to: 1 = red
2 = mostly red
3 = pretty red
4 = pretty green
5 = mostly green
6 = green
I’m no math major so to keep it simple I’m going to make 6 little skeins
of 1 oz (28.35 g) each. So I will start with 3 oz (85.05
g) of red and 3 oz (85.05 g) of green.
For reds I have both scarlet and russet dyed. The russet is a little
dark and the scarlet a little too pinkish, so I weighed 2 oz (56.7 g)
of the russet and 1 oz (28.35 g) of the scarlet.
For greens I have both emerald and spruce. The emerald is too light
and the spruce is pretty blue, so I weighed 2 oz (56.7 g) of the
emerald and 1 oz (28.35 g) of the spruce.
Now on to Step 2!
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