Being stage 2 of ongoing experiments in becoming the boss of colour in spinning.

The Cormo spinning progresses apace, but as I mentioned last time, it’s going to take a while, and I have the attention span of a hummingbird on speed. Enter some English Shetland wool from Into the Whirled: one multicoloured braid

and a green coordinate, in case I needed to tone things down

These, I knew, would become socks. Yes, Shetland felts, but it’s sturdy, and this particular fibre, while not exactly soft, was not Dreaded Grandma Sweater scratchy. (Shetland’s softness is all over the map: those scratchy sweaters you got as a kid? Probably made of Shetland. At the other end? The famous Shetland lace wedding ring shawls.) I was so sure I was going to like the results from plying these braids together that I had a plan: one skein with 2 plies of Gwydir (the multicolour) and one of green; one skein with one ply Gwydir, 2 plies green. Just to be on the safe side, I spun up a couple of samples and knit them up:

Err…not quite what I’d envisioned. Even at 2:1 Gwydir:green, the colours looked muddier than I wanted. The texture of the 3-ply — spun long draw from the fold and done as a true 3-ply (rather than chain plied) — was exactly what I was shooting for, so I’d keep that part, but perhaps the braids would be better spun separately. I’d had enough of sampling (see above re: attention span), so just dove in and did it. Here’s what I ended up with:

I decided to do narrow stripes on the socks, so the green would still tone down the multi without drowning it. I think it’s turning out pretty well:

For those who are wondering, I’m completely winging it on this sock. It’s a basic toe-up, with the top done in 3×1 rib, and the heel shaping adapted from Cat Bordhi’s Darjeeling.