-->

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Starting Color Affection



I picked up some yarn at Knitty City while we were in NYC.
It was a planned purchase, because I am dying to knit Color Affection and the yarn wasn't in my stash. Really.
I chose three colors of Madelinetosh Merino Light, in Boxwood, Vanilla Bean, and Graphite. The Boxwood will be my main color and the Graphite will be the edge. Can't wait to get started, and I only have another 4 rows to knit on the Amberwell, it knit up incredibly fast! Especially with the drive back from New York yesterday.
January One had a post, Fat Tuesday, on color and value comparing color photos to black and white. It is well worth reading. I took a chance with my three colors and shot them with Color Splash. The values are probably too similar, but I'm not changing. It is a great exercise though, and I plan on taking my iPhone with me to the yarn store every time I buy yarn, (in the far distant future, of course).

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Scrumptious Finds a Project

I found a small shawl called Amberwell by Judy Marples. Interesting triangle with a garter and stockinette band. The big appeal to me is the edge is designed to be as deep as your yarn amount allows. It is zipping along, I'm on the eighth repeat of chart A. Amberwell is written for fingering weight, but the Fyberspates Scrumptious Sport is looking good. So happy to have finally found a project for this truly scrumptious yarn.

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Crinoline, Semele, and Parasol


I have two lace projects on the needles at the moment. Crinoline is a beautiful triangle pattern by Alina Appasov. I'm using stash yarn, (yes, I still have not made any yarn purchases) that I bought at Spinning Yarns. It's Plymouth Yarn Dye for Me Merino Silk Cashmere 2 ply. It was marketed as lace, but it is fingering to me. So the shawl is going to be heavier than I hoped. It's fine for a first try of this pattern, I'd love to knit it again sometime with true lace yarn. I have knit 10 repeats of Chart B and will probably knit about 18. I'm using Rose-Kim Knits shawl percentage spreadsheet (Shawl Progress Calculator) and my scale to determine the approximate half-way point. There is a 5 into 5 stitch that you are directed to knit through the back loops. I found this to be very awkward. I looked up similar stitches in Nancy Bush's Estonian Lace and Elizabeth Freeman's Laminaria. They gave me "permission" to knit through the front and I was off! Alina also gave me her nod of approval through the Ravelry forum of her designs.
Semele is a lovely pattern by Asa Tricosa. I started to knit it a while ago with one skein of Seasilk, but decided it was not going to be enough yarn for the size I was interested in and I frogged it. Also frogged the Fartlek hat that I was knitting with the Fyberspates Scrumptious 4 ply I bought at The Yarn Sellar in York. I was coming out too large and didn't have enough stretch for me. I'll try the pattern again in a pure wool. The good news is that it looks beautiful in Semele. The bad news is that I only have one skein and I'm looking at the projects on Ravelry and they used TWO! Guess I'm frogging this again...I do have 3 skeins of Knit Picks Shadow (1300 yards) in grape jelly and that would use some more stash.  Now what to knit with the Scrumptious? 
I finished my Parasol stole. After blocking the ribbing went back to its original state. It's too narrow to be called a stole, but it is a very cozy (as Henry is demonstrating) scarf. This project was that cause of much overthinking and indecision. In the end I just told myself to get on with it and finish the thing. I used Dream in Color Everlasting DK that I bough from Webs. Unfortunately, the last skein was noticeably different, as happens with some yarns. I know I shouldn't buy such yarns over the internet... 
The other issue is that the ends are different because it is knit end to end rather than two halves that are grafted in the center. I felt more anguish over this than I should have done, because it doesn't bother me as I wear it. If I were to knit the pattern again, I would probably knit it in two halves and would definitely make it wider.