Fungus-dyed Jacket

 This jacket was knitted using only wool dyed with the fungus Cortinarius semisanguineus, which I obtained from Finland. The pattern is one I devised myself and the front bands have been crocheted rather than knitted. I often use crochet for edgings, partly because it gives a firm border but mainly because it’s quicker. (Yes, I know that speed is not really a valid reason for design choices and I confess to laziness at times!) The skeins from which the upper section of the body was knitted were dyed using different modifiers to give a variegated effect.

This is the reverse of the jacket. The keen-eyed viewer may notice that the colours in the upper variegated section of the back are slightly different from those on the variegated sections of the fronts and sleeves. Unfortunately I didn’t have enough of the same wool for the back, so I used a skein I bought from Leena in Finland, also dyed in Cortinarius semisanguineus. But the colours all seem to blend in well together.

 This is the first in what I plan as a series of knitted cushion-covers, dyed with various fungi. This one was dyed using what remained from the skeins dyed with Cortinarius semisanguineus, after I’d knitted my jacket.