Intentional Color Pooling: faux Ikat

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When the Early Fall ’14 issue of Vogue Knitting made it to my mailbox, I found a pretty interesting hand painted yarn creation that I wanted to experiment with:

Ikat wrap, Vogue Knitting Early Fall 2014

Ikat wrap, Vogue Knitting Early Fall 2014

It’s made using yarn from Prism, and the swatching process is pretty specific to get the colors to pool in the right places. Other than that it’s a pretty simple stockinette/reverse stockinette basket weave pattern.

Detail of Ikat wrap

Detail of Ikat wrap

I have quite a bit of white Shetland roving that I got back from one of the local mills here recently, and as soon as I have some free time I want to spin some of it up in order to experiment with hand painting yarn. I usually do single color kettle-dying fleece: I really love the depth of color I can get by blending on my drum carder, so single color batches just make sense. But this has never stopped me from buying hand-painted roving, or yarn for that matter, so I may as well make my own.

I’ve checked on Ravelry, and one Raveler has already hand painted some yarn in custom colorways to make this project, and not only did it turn out great, but there are great project notes. It got me thinking that I might be able to manipulate some commercial hand painted yarn that I’ve had forever, in a similar way.

indigonightowl's Ikat wrap

indigonightowl’s Ikat wrap

Malabrigo color Sotobosque

Malabrigo color Sotobosque

I bought this a long time ago, and in my mind it was going to end up as some sort of poncho, like the one Clint Eastwood wore in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. And the color way reminds me of Molly Ringwald. This is probably a weird pop cultural mashup, but it makes perfect sense in my mind. Unfortunately, when this yarn is knit up in a regular pattern, the color pooling make the garment look camouflage, which is not what I’m after at all. (Again, thanks to Ravelry and finished garment pictures!)

Deciphering dye patterns

Deciphering dye patterns

I think I can get a similar effect as the Ikat wrap if I keep the pink parts separated from the brown parts. And I will have my Molly Eastwood wrap. Stay tuned!

N.b. This a serape, not a poncho

n.b. This a serape, not a poncho

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