Swatching the Detectives ~ a yarn collection

If you've seen my 'currently reading' limited-run shades, inspired by the book on my bedside table, you'll know that I'm partial to what I think of as 'light' literary fiction. My favourite authors are usually women and they're usually writing about ordinarily complex lives and families and often aren't plot driven BUT I also have a penchant for a properly meaty crime thriller. I think of these as palette cleansers, much like knitting woolly beanies in between colourwork sweaters, they clear the neural pathways for the next slightly more complex, some might say challenging, knit/read. There are authors whose series I read strictly in order and others that I grab from the library shelves on a whim as I see them. I'm prone to discovering, forgetting, and rediscovering authors and characters, and stumbling across a brand new series, a whole rich new seam of murder and mystery, is a good day indeed! One of the things I love about a recurring character is the way the author can build a richly complex world and a nuanced (often complicated!) personality for them to inhabit. We find out what they like and dislike, they have back stories and lives outside of the current case/mystery, we know what they order at the bar, what music they listen to, their relationship woes, and whether they stop off for a curry or a fish supper on their way home from a gruelling day of crime solving! It all makes for lots of palette inspiration and I'll be using it all to dye a single shade each month inspired by one of my favourite detectives. I'm going to build this into a collection like a 'part work' magazine so you can pick and choose your favourites, or collect the whole series. Each edition will be dyed on the same two yarn bases; pightle | fingering/4ply (both 100g full size skeins and 20g mini-skeins) and bray | lace so there are lots of knit/crochet possibilities! You could purchase a single mini-skein from every release and knit or crochet a blanket or throw, maybe use pightle and bray held together for a shawl, or purchase a sweaters-worth to knit a garment inspired by your favourite detective... the possibilities are many and varied! So, who is going to be providing the inspiration? I'm keeping it broad and flexible because not all my favourite solvers-of-crime are straightforward police detectives. Some are amateurs sleuths, then there are private investigators, and let's not forget the 'police adjacent' characters - the forensic consultants, archaeologists, and off-book sidekicks. I've got a long list of potential characters to inspire the dye pots; Kay Scarpetta, Reacher, Ruth Galloway, Tom Thorne... Vera Stanhope maybe? But I'm starting with the detective that got me hooked on the genre; Rebus. From the very first twist to the last turn (or will there be more!?) Ian Rankin's John Rebus character has taken us to all the darkest, seediest, gangster-infused corners of Edinburgh and picking up the latest Rebus is like catching up with an old but troublesome friend... There's a Pinterest mood board that I'll be adding to where you'll get a sneak peak of the current detective in the dye pots, and you can also read more about the inspiration for each shade in my journal. I'm using my favourite fluid, multi-layered dye pot technique to create subtly variegated shades and each month there will be ready-to-ship batches in the shop but all the shades will be repeatable and they'll be restocked indefinitely, as the collection grows month by month. And, true to the name of the collection, I'll be swatching each shade before it's released, so you can see how it knits up (with the usual caveat about yarn base, needle size/gauge etc.!) pightle | fingering/4ply weight: fingering/4ply/sock equivalent fibre: 100% wool - superwash merino needle size: 2.50 - 3.50mm depending on gauge required metres: 400m per 100g skein / 80m per 20g mini-skein care: Hand wash in cool water with gentle wool detergent bray | lace weight: Lace fibre: 64% kid mohair, 36% silk needle size: 2.75 - 5.00mm (depending on gauge required) metres: 420m per 50g skein care: Hand wash in cool water using gentle wool detergent