5 beautiful yarn colourways from the Crystal Collection
Many sources of inspiration for our hand-dyed yarn colourways come from the natural world around us. In this blog post I’ll show you 5 beautiful colourways and the crystals, gemstones and minerals that inspired them – the Crystal Collection.
What exactly are crystals?
Firstly, let’s look at the difference between crystals, gemstones, and minerals.
All minerals can be gemstones, but not all gemstones are minerals! A rare, precious, or semi-precious mineral is considered a gemstone. Some organic materials such as amber and coral are also classed as gemstones. Crystals are minerals that stand on their own, rather than being part of a composite solid like a rock. They have geometric, crystalline structures. Fascinating!
My own pathway to crystals
My introduction to crystals was when our eldest daughter discovered them. She learned all about them, and started educating the rest of us about their properties and benefits. Soon we were frequenting newly-found crystal shops around Cornwall, and quickly gathered a wide selection of crystals, gemstones and minerals.
Since then I have had 3 of these crystals on my desk where I write these blogposts:
- Rose Quartz – for love, compassion, calming and healing
- Kyanite – grounding, encouraging self-expression and clear communication
- Amethyst – relieving stress and migraines, helping decision-making
I believe that bringing the mind to focus on these areas can only be beneficial to our wellbeing. Whether you believe they help or not, their beautiful textures and colours bring joy and interest to your home.
These are the inspiration for the hand-dyed yarn colourways in my Crystal Collection; let’s look at 5 of these in more detail.
Creativity
Creativity is a limited edition colourway created to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the unravel yarn festival.
The colourway is based on the cool shades and hues of the Blue Topaz crystal. Crystal is a traditional gift given to celebrate a 15th anniversary, & the Blue Topaz crystal is additionally associated with energy and the spark of creativity. What could be more relevant and inspirational for a set of luxury yarns?!
I dyed this colourway in a long rectangular gastronorm pan, rather than a round pot. This subsequently gave a long run of shades from ecru, through silver grey to pale turquoise and finally darker topaz blue. In your finished garment or accessory, Crystal looks fabulous with many outfits from casual jeans to a stunning silver evening ball gown.
I created and dyed the Creativity colourway exclusively for the unravel yarn show 15th anniversary in February 2023, therefore it is not repeatable.
Crystal is a delicate colourway, with gentle shading from pale turquoise through sky blue, to periwinkle and lilac purple tones.
The colourway is dyed in a long rectangular gastronorm pan. Consequently this enables me to blend the dye colours easily to give a gradual transition along the length of the yarn skeins. Many crystals show a multitude of shades and tones, and the gradient of this colourway captures this effect. It is certainly a truly beautiful yarn colourway to simply admire in your stash!
The Crystal colourway brings a light mood and warm spring-summer feel to your wardrobe. It accessories beautifully with a multitude of outfits, picking out the pretty blue-purple shades.
Mineral is a darker colourway, with tones ranging from silver grey through to midnight blue. A multitude of minerals, gemstones and crystals including Blue Agate, Sapphire and Kyanite have inspired this colourway.
With deeper shades and tones, Mineral is suitable for a wide range of projects from warm handmade socks to dramatic shawls. Different fibres in the various yarn bases that I hand-dye generally result in a more intense or subtle look. For example 4ply Gold Sparkle is deeper in colour, whereas the Lace Egyptian yarn base gives a paler colourway.
The Mineral colourway is dyed in a round pot, with less blending between the dye colours. The shades therefore repeat along the length of the yarn skein, giving a different look to colourways dyed in a long rectangular pan.
Rainbow Flourite can have an amazing array of colours. The crystal is thought to be particularly helpful in focusing the mind, thinking clearly, and inspiring creativity.
Our Rainbow Flourite colourway pairs beautifully with several other shades such as Chill and Grape for larger projects. It is a mid-range shade with deeper plum purple tones fading through to lilac and a soft aqua teal. It is hand-dyed, one skein at a time, in a round pot.
This variegated colourway looks fabulous when used in accessories or garments to bring a pop of colour to a single-tone outfit. For example a plum tunic dress and leggings looks fabulous with a draping shawl in Rainbow Flourite.
Rose Quartz is a delicate shade, that brings a soft warmth to your projects. I originally dyed it for a custom order request. Specifically I was asked to hand-dye some yarn based on my She Sells Seashells shade, but with added pink tones. Rose Quartz was the result, and quickly became a popular choice.
As with other colourways, the fibre blends of the different yarn bases affect the intensity of the end result. This is undeniably one of my particular favourites on the Lace Silky Moh yarn base shown, pairing well with the soft haze of the mohair blend yarn.
Our 4ply and DK weight yarns dyed in Rose Quartz are ideal to make feminine socks and shawls. The Lace Silky Moh works particularly well when used together with an undyed 4ply or laceweight yarn to make a beautiful neutral-toned garment with subtle warm shading.
The hand-dyed yarn colourways we have looked at above are available on a variety of luxurious yarns, from laceweight to DK weight. To find the yarns in our shop, click on the colourway name.
If you can’t find the combination of yarn base and colourway that you would like for your next knit, crochet, or weaving project, contact me to add it to my next available dye slot.
Happy crafting!
Steph x