Toad Tummy Yarn

In my quest for a Toad Tummy colorway, I took this

which is from left to right a natural rust alpaca roving, a blended batt of wool/alpaca/nylon/silk in a rust/olive/mushroom colorway, and some natural black alpaca roving. The batt I had blended a couple of months ago, long before the quest for toad tummy yarn ever began. (Cue Twilight Zone music.)

I first took a strip of the blended batt and spun that alternating with the rust roving in varying lengths to form a singles. I then spun the black roving into a singles, and plied them together, resulting in this.

I knit up a swatch to see what it looked like.

I started with stockinette stitch, and then switched to garter stitch. The stockinette is too smooth, and the garter stitch I think the stitches are too big. Reverse stockinette stitch is just right!

Reverse stockinette stitch on the bottom, garter stitch on the top. The difference is subtle, but I think it really does make a difference.

Thinking that the first one might be too much black, I also tried a sample skein of using random lengths of the batt and the black, and then plying them together. This resulted in a yarn with lengths of all batt, all black, and the two in combination. Here is the swatch with the yarn.

It's too linear. I like the allover black better.

A friend has been jonesing for another pair of socks, and he might just get some Toad Tummy socks in reverse stockinette. He will have a very long wait though, too much other stuff ahead of him in line.