The Season of Color 

by Patty Ramsey

11-06-03

This autumn season is my favorite of the year. I love the weather; cool dry days and then just cold enough at night to have that small fire in the stove. I have been playing around with dyeing some wool and my inspiration comes from right outside my window. I was working on rainbow dyeing some roving and trying to reproduce those brilliant colors I see on the hills surrounding the river. Those indescribable burgundy-purples the dogwood trees create; the yellow-orange-red blends that maples have no trouble producing. I've read somewhere that the colors in the trees are due somehow to the amount of sugar produced, hence the wonderful reds of sugar maples.

As I stir my wool in the warm water, I eye that sugar bowl and have a sudden urge to sweeten the dyepot for luck!
I have a whole list of things I want to get done before the gift-giving holidays. I already finished a scarf made from one of my rainbow experiments. It is a delightful blend of forest greens, purple, blue, magenta, black. I plied the resulting rainbow with a strand of silver grey and it is very nice. I knit it in a fairly open lacy pattern so it would be lightweight. I'm very happy with how it turned out. The hard part now is to match it with a new owner. I REALLY like it: it may stay around my winter coat!
Colors everywhere! Even the shades of brown give me delight. I love the autumn palette!