macro~meadow – may

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! May – full of birdsong, wild flowers, blowsy hedgerows, perfection. And this year has also had plenty of rain, gusty wind, chilly evenings, and grey skies amidst the perfect, if fleeting, moments of warm sunshine and still air. In one of those moments Chris snapped a beautiful peacock butterfly, taking a moment, resting its wings, soaking up the sun. I obviously couldn't resist using those rich rusty oranges and soft browns, the hint of periwinkle, and the buttery, lemony yellow tones as inspiration for a subtle variegated shade riffing on peacock wings. The accompanying semi-solid shade picks out that glorious musky lavender-lilac-pink smudge that makes the whole ensemble sing! Both shades are dyed on cade | singles, our blend of superwash merino wool and linen and the soft halo and subtle texture are perfect for spring knits. There are a couple of batches of each shade in the shop and ready-to-ship right now and as well as full-size 100g skeins, I've also dyed a handful of mini-skeins so you can pick and choose, mix and match, indulge a little or a lot. It's entirely up to you! 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. cade | singles weight: fingering/4ply/sock equivalent fibre: 90% wool - superwash merino, 10% linen needle size: 2.50-3.75mm (dependent on gauge required) metres: 366m per 100gm skein care: Hand wash in cool water using gentle wool detergent