The creation of Stark the yarn

There are currently (as of 5/27/12) 2 skeins of Stark available

The list of my favorite podcasters includes Jake Bible. Unfortunately, he won't be able to attend Balticon this year so that means I had to put on hold a colorway I had planned to do for the first book in his Apex Trilogy. I have very few rules about anything when it comes to creativity, but the creator of the work that inspires the yarn has to be attending Balticon...otherwise, how could it be a Balticon colorway? 

So, while I'm upset that I won't be able to meet Jake in person this year, his work will still be represented. How's that possible?  Well, he also did this really cool project called Stark this year.  It's an illustrated novella.  Yeah, a novella.  Not a graphic novel; though Stark is more than a little graphic.  Okay, it's a blood bath.  This project reminds me of an adult version of the books we read as kids where every couple of pages there is a full page illustration.  WAY cool!  

The artist that did the illustrations for Stark is Scott Pond.  And guess what? Yep, he'll be at Balticon this year.  And, really, it was the illustrations that inspired this colorway more than the story itself.  Although, the illustrations are well, illustrating the story...  So, I guess I got the inspiration from the work that was inspired by Stark.  So, this is a once-removed kind of project I suppose.

Anyway....  Stark lives up to its name.  I originally was thinking of just doing black and white with the splashes of red. But I love the silvery quality of Scott's work so I decided to use some of the silver grey too.  

I dyed Enemy Lines and Stark in the same session because of the commonalities of their colorways made for less dye mixing if I did them together.  I love that they are both so simple and yet complex when knit.

In a black and white world there will always be shades of grey and the inevitable spot of blood...

You can see all of the colorways, with links to the original work and the artists/podcasters/websites that inspired them, on the Balticon 2012 page.

The creation of Enemy Lines the yarn

Enemy Lines is SOLD OUT! Thank you to all who purchased a skein.

I have a few favorite authors/podcasters. These are folks who consistently produce stories I enjoy (many of which I've listened to multiple time AND read because they are just that good), and they also keep their podcast feed active with a constant stream of content.  The work they put out is not just good writing, it's a quality product on a regular basis...something that takes plenty of talent, sure; but more than that, it takes a lot of dedication and hard work. 

The first colorway, Enemy Lines, is based on one of these favorites. 

Enemy lines is a novel by John Mierau.  It is part sci-fi (with space travel, invading aliens, and friendly aliens) and part mystery/espionage thriller.  Mystery/espionage thriller type stories have always been among my favorites so I was really excited to listen to this.  It didn't disappoint!

I was immediately struck by one of the descriptions of the aliens as "the greys".  When the mysterious alien "Pusher" starts wreaking havoc with a yellow-green alien slime I knew I had to create a colorway based on this story.

This is a very simple colorway that will create some dramatic results in the finished project (much like this fantastic story).  It is dark and mysterious, sleek and sophisticated, with a splash of acid green irony and action.

You can see all of the colorways, with links to the original work and the artists/podcasters/websites that inspired them, on the Balticon 2012 page.