Love in Yarn Form: Dandelions & Daisies
Let me just start by saying: if you like to play with yarn, you need this colorway in your life.
I probably could end this post now, because most yarn lovers have probably already left this page to go looking for this yarn…
(I’ll wait while y’all go take care of that. I brought my knitting, I’m good for quite a while. Knitters are well-equipped to wait like pros, aren't we?)
If you’re still here (or you’ve come back,) let me introduce you to “Tama” on Sassafras Sock dyed by the lovely Cherish of Dandelions and Daisies Fiber Arts.
I spied this colorway on Cherish’s Instagram feed last December and was instantly intrigued.
It’s a highly variegated colorway, but even with so many blues, mauves, and creams, “Tama” is coherent. The colors play and mix in a way that I knew would knit up beautifully. Knitters develop an intuition about these things, don’t we?
And Cherish has intuition in spades.
Living in the Pacific Northwest, Cherish finds her biggest inspiration in “lush green forests, beautiful mountains and wildflowers. As a child I spent a lot of time camping and hiking and that is where I am the most at peace; I find I bring that to the dye pots a lot as I dye mostly from my heart.”
“For me the colors are a form of therapy so if you pay attention, you might be able to see what I am feeling. If I am feeling a little down, I might dye something really bright and cheerful; if I am missing a loved one, I might dye their favorite colors or something that makes me feel close to them.”
“Tama” has this type of connection to Cherish’s heart: named after her mother, this colorway came about from her intuitive approach to dyeing.
“This was the case for Tama; I was really just letting the yarn speak to me. I know that probably sounds silly, but some of my favorite colorways come from this way of dyeing. When I dye this way, I will add a color and just sort of wait to see what color should go with it and continue this way until I feel that it’s complete.
With Tama, the colors reminded me of my mother from the very beginning, but I had a hard time settling on a name. I wanted it to have something to do with my mom but nothing really felt right … I finally just named it Tama, which is my mothers name. It reminds me of her when I was young: she had long golden hair and always wore blue jeans and mauve lipstick.”
“Tama” is one of her most popular colorways at shows, which does not surprise me. If its depth caught my eye in the middle of all the gorgeous yarn that populates my Instagram feed, I can only imagine how much more it would have stood out in person. Cherish suggests that “Tama’s” appeal may also lie in its not-quite-neutral adaptability, both standing out and blending in at the same time:
“I think it is the unique color combination; I find when I combine warm and cool tones, it really becomes very versatile, making Tama a flattering colorway for everyone and more likely to match a lot of things in your wardrobe.”
If someone ever fit the definition of "busy bee," it would be Cherish. Earlier this year, her Instagram feed showed her family moving to a new home — and her dyeing dried up, as it were, for a few weeks. But as soon as she got settled, she hit the ground running again, and has been non-stop ever since, creating new colorways, shipping out clubs, and even updating her label. I'm seriously wondering how she knits at all, but it seems she can do that, too!
“It is such a blessing to finally have a space big enough for our family (5 kids) and little bit of property too!
I definitely was going through creative withdrawals during the move though, for me dyeing is a form of meditation and brings a lot of peace. During the move I was not really able to dye anything and so I had all of the built up creativity that just kind of exploded when I was able to spend some time at the dye pots.
I really have a hard time sitting still and am constantly working on something. I have always been a night owl and spend a lot of late nights dyeing and packing orders. I would love to say I am really organized but I would be lying... I have been working on being better about it but for the most part I just bounce around doing everything all day long and hope it all gets done.”
Cherish’s creative life allows her to find color inspiration everywhere; like many dyers I’ve spoken to, she has found that dyeing has changed the way she sees the world around her.
“I find I see every color more in-depth and the colors within the colors and I when I see something that speaks to me I start mixing dyes in my head with out thinking about it. For example, I might see a beautiful sunset and as I admire each color present I would have already planned all the different dye colors I would need to mix to create that color.”
Using her intuition and allowing the “yarn tell her what it wants to become,” she has created a body of work that includes tantalizing combinations that simply beg to be made into colorwork projects. I wondered if she planned to offer so many inspiring color combos, but by now, I think we can expect that this effect wasn’t purposeful…it just happened that way organically.
“I would have a yarn someone really loved, but I could see they were disappointed that there was not something good to pair with it. I do try to dye things to compliment each other but I find that the things I dye more based on my moods tend to just flow better together than when I force it. Most of the time, one of my colorways will inspire a new colorway and in the end those will pair nicely together.”
She tells me that "Tama" is a colorway she knew she'd gotten "right" straight out of the dye pot. That's not always how it goes, she says, but sometimes, the ideas just flow.
I don't always know when I have a colorway just right, sometimes when I open the pot after the colors have worked their magic and I see it for the first time it just takes my breath away and I know its "right;" other times I don't really know until I post it on social media and receive a good response to it.
—Cherish
I think there’s not a stitch pattern in existence that would pair badly with “Tama.” While I normally would choose a very simple pattern for a highly-variegated yarn, the coherence of this yarn actually reads a little more like a semi-solid and can handle a more complicated stitch. I was really feeling reverse stockinette (well, let’s be honest, I always love reverse stockinette,) but wanted something with a little more interest. I’ve already knit Helen Stewart’s Vintage Fairy Lights and I knew that pattern would look great with “Tama,” but I tried to change it up a little. I adore the “twinkles” that decorate the reverse stockinette stitch in that pattern: I extended them through the whole sock and varied their density. Starting at the toe, I began adding the “twinkles” one at a time, slowly building frequency until I reached the cuff. Like Cherish intuitively created the color, I intuitively executed the pattern, winging what seemed to look good as I went.
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