2 finished, 3 started

When David came home from his work-trip on Sunday morning he asked the ridiculous question, "how many projects do you have going anyway?"

I mean really?  Why ask that question. I  have a basket full of project bags sitting beside my place on the couch.  There are 2 shelves of project bags in my studio and a work table full of grouped yarns just waiting to be cast on (most of the time they're waiting on needles, but I'm not going to go there because that might inspire me to buy more needles, and I am NOT buying more needles just so I can start more projects!)

So, today, in the spirit of bragging, I will show you the two projects that I finished.  The first is a buttoned cowl.  It was intended to be a scarf, but I really didn't enjoy working on it.  As I was looking at the project bag on the shelf, I thought, "I just need to see how long it is and see if I can finish it off into a cowl," and guess what!  It's perfect!  See (and please ignore the messy hair...It was Saturday morning, early...and I was home alone...

I like the buttons...I think they are perfect with all the bright color right there at the ends.

As I was looking at the skein and a half that I had left, I thought "what could I make with that besides another cowl or a monster?" and it dawned on me that a matching hat would be just the thing, so I pulled out my book "Weekend Hats" and looked through for a worsted weight pattern, found one that I think will look good with all the long-color stripes and cast on.  (I needed 5 sets of needles for this thing and I'm happy to report that I did NOT have to steal ANY of them from another project).  The hat is pretty far along, and I'll post a picture of it when I'm finished.

-------

Then I looked at Harold who has been sitting next to me on the couch for 2 weeks while I worked feverishly on the Noro blanket...with only one arm...and I told him I'd go ahead an finish that arm...and approximately 45 minutes later, Harold was finished.  Wow...2 finished projects and it wasn't even 10am!  woohoo!  Here is Harold sitting with Zora.  She isn't pleased.

In fact, she avoided sitting on that chair until Harold got taken away from it.  David has taken Harold to be his office monster.  I'll have a picture of him in his new home soon.

So, of course it was time to cast on for another monster.  I totally ignored the fact that I'm only supposed to work on monsters 30 minutes per day to preserve my thumb joint.  This was a different monster in different sized needles...and  I've been dying to knit a P monster to go with my Z monster (this one will be Pearl).  I'd bought 2 different yarns trying to decide which was best, and I went with the Blue Moon Fiber Arts' BFL Sport--mostly for the size of the yarn, but also because it had enough orange in it, and bright orange at that, to be more like Pearl.  As usual with these little critters, it's all I can do to limit my knitting on them.  She'll be absolutely adorable, but I don't have a picture yet because all she is so far is a tube.  Soon, though, personality will come through.

-------

And finally, on Saturday afternoon, I decided to pay attention to that little bit of my brain that has been thinking about the Color Affection Shawl and picked out the yarn for it.  I don't know how it all happened, but the Satakieli yarn that I attempted to make mittens from (remember this) told me that it would make a really pretty Color Affection, or two, and that I needed to go ahead and buy the pattern and get it started because it would be a great travel project and it would be gorgeous and all that other stuff that yarn does to convince you that it needs to be cast on right at this very moment.  So, I cast on the blue as my main color and picked out the two oranges to be the contrasting colors and cast on.  I made it through the first section and started the first striping last night.  It's going to be gorgeous and cozy and all kinds of wonderful.

I can't tell you how much I like this yarn better than when I was working on the mitts.  This yarn is so squishy and soft and I can tell that once it's washed it's going to bloom and become all kinds of gorgeous and even softer.  It knits up very easily and quickly and the color is very true and rich.

So, now that I have bitten the Color Affection bug, I have already decided that the other two skeins of this yarn are going to make another CA...and maybe I could get three or four of them depending on how much of the yarn I have left when I'm finished with this one.  I thought about combining it with others of the sock yarn that I have in my stash.  This has started to get a little out of control, but I understand that's what happens with a CA...I'll keep you posted on where things go with it.

Making Monsters, Wool Experiment and a Football Weekend

I thoroughly enjoyed our football weekend.  The Aggies played very well, and from all the news reports I'm seeing, the Aggie fans were their typical nice, hospitable and welcoming selves.    "Hard to hate you" said some Alabama fans.

Good.  I'm glad we can show class on and off the field.  For me, that's what being an Aggie has always been about.  Leadership through example and hard work.  Very good indeed.

-------

I knitted during the game, of course.  I knit almost all day on Saturday.  This game I decided I needed something I didn't need to think about so I worked on the Noro stained glass afghan.  I'm on block 18 and almost finished it during the game.  It's really quite lovely...and I'm getting so close to finishing all the blocks that I'm about to get "obsessed" about working on it again.  I think I've made terrific progress for only starting it on July 4th.  We'll see how I feel once I'm knitting black sashing strips...

----------

I'm almost finished with Harold, my red monster.  He's absolutely adorable and coming to life quite nicely.  See his picture below--he doesn't have arms or legs yet, but still you can see his personality.

The pattern called for a 3 needle bind-off at the top of his head, but I decided that I didn't want that.  I wanted him to have hair, so as I was drifting in that space between sleep and awake, I had a great idea.  Why not knit the front and back together like I would in the 3-needle bind off, but instead of binding off, continue up with a ribbed tuft of hair.  It would be more appropriate for Harold than the i-cord tendrils I've done in the past.

So, I combed through my monster yarn stash and found this lovely variegated blue, teal and purple yarn and make Harold some hair.  He's quite special.  I then dug through my buttons to find some blue eyes and belly buttons.  His mouth is a purple jagged line (made by doing a zig-zag embroidery stitch).

I've made both of Harold's legs and feet and one of his arms.  He has one green toe, which when I saw him sitting on my couch this morning, I decided made him just about perfect.

My thoughts on knitting monsters.  I find it quite addictive.  I want to knit and knit and knit and end up making my hands hurt.  Both of my hands are very sore this morning, so I'm clearly going to have to pull back on my enthusiasm for making monsters...I'm hoping I can keep up to the 30 minutes per day like I like to do...but I don't know.  Anyway, Harold is sweet and a total charmer.  I can't wait for you to meet all of him.

---------

TGWE #8 is underway.  After seeing the very first photo of the project, my mom said, "I want those" so I won't be showing any more photos of this project.  I'll talk about it a little, though, as learning about the different types of yarn has been a big part of why I'm doing this experiment in the first place.

I really love the Louet Gems that I chose for this project.  It's truly a springy yarn (4 ply but almost looks like 2).  It's a nice round yarn with just a hint of fuzz (not sure what that's from).  The color is very muted, but rich (an unusual combination).

I find that in looking at all my hand-knit socks, I haven't made many that are solid, but I love the ones that I've made.  I think this pair will be special too...and too bad you won't be able to see a picture of them until Christmas!

TGWE #7: Finito

(I'm currently reading Blood and Beauty by Sarah Dunant...it's about the Borgia Pope--Alexander VI--so the finito seemed to fit)

I was happily knitting away on TGWE #7 last night when I realized that if I stayed up a tad past my typical bedtime I could finish...and wear these lovely socks to work today...at that point, I was no longer tired, I totally ignored how sticky and weary my eyes were getting and I knitted as fast as I could to finish up these beauties.

And I love them, don't you?

I love the colors, I love the variegation, I loved working the pattern.  I love how the socks feel on my feet--perfect fit in all areas.  I love how the cuff has points to it.  I love the pooling at the foot.  I love the yarn, too, and I loved working with my signature needles on this project.  It was great fun and a perfect project to go to everyday.

I was too tired to start TGWE #8 last night, but I will tonight.  The next pair of socks in the Knitters Book of Wool...can't remember the name right now, but I'll post a picture tomorrow.  I've chosen a very sedate color for this project.   These will be beautiful socks, but a totally different look than these socks.  These socks are just happy lovely socks that make me want to pull up the cuff of my pants every now and then so I can look at them and make sure they aren't sagging (they aren't).

My next project will use Louet Gems yarn in replacement of the Hand Jive yarn that is no longer available.  I chose the color "champagne" because I like champagne so much and I thought that it would be nice to wear something champagne on my feet.  I'm impressed with the springiness of the yarn that's evident in the skein.  I can't wait to see it knitted up.  A report will be forthcoming, of course.

TGWE #7 is underway!

I happily left TGWE #6 behind.  Once I'd decided I was going to cut it and move on, I cut it, sealed the yarn up in its bag, put it in a basket and then didn't think about it anymore.  While that last bit isn't completely true (I've been thinking whether I have enough to do an afghan from the yarn...one made from stitch sample squares...it's a thought), I haven't been ACTIVELY thinking about the yarn, which is nice.  I was seriously worried about it sitting in the stash without a clear purpose.  It'll come around.  It told me that blanket really isn't what it wants to do--but being monsters would be really fun.  So, I'm keeping it in mind.  I could stripe that orange and white and make a really cute cat, don't you think?  Ideas ideas...(see how I lied that I haven't been thinking about it?)

But, in taking my wool experiment seriously, I cast on for the next project immediately...and then bought the yarn for the following experiment right away.

And boy, am I having fun with this new project.  It's the Windjammer Socks designed by Jennifer Tepper Heverly.  I'm using Koigo KPPPM (Koigu Painter's Palette Premium Merino).  And wow, is this yarn soft and gorgeous.

KPPPM yarn is hand-painted by fiber artists.  They are given a "dye recipe" and then told to be creative.  The very large skeins they work with are then wound off into smaller skeins (50g or 25g).  You could buy two colorways that are the same number but have very different effects in the skeins.  I read one woman's blog (sorry I can't remember who it was!) who collects one colorway in different dye lots and is making an afghan from the yarns.  How very interesting.  And probably gorgeous too.

I love the silky feel to the yarn, too.  I'm a little concerned about working with it on the size 3 needles.  The resulting cuff (pictured below) looks a little large, but when I eased it over my foot, it seemed to fit fine.  We'll see how the end result is.  I'm using another set of Signature needles.  Again, I love the stiletto point and find the needles help me knit faster and more evenly.

Regarding the pattern.  What a gorgeous and fun-to-knit pattern this is.  I don't have to worry about remembering what to do as I've already memorized the stitches.  I love the chevron (pic below) and how the centered decrease creates such an interesting stitch...it's as if the chevron is forming its own little bitty cable right there in the middle.  The cable stitch is easy as well.

If I were to select yarn for future renditions of this project, I would definitely select a yarn that doesn't have as much variegation to let the pattern sing a little more.  However, I do love this colorway.  It's happy and the colors look beautiful even if the patterning is slightly obscured.

TGWE #6: Learning about myself as a knitter Part II

I've tried to motivate myself to continue working on the Risti Mitts.  I've told myself I need peace and quiet, few distractions, and to not be tired.  So, I've created that atmosphere for myself.

Guess what?  I still don't like working on the mitts.  I keep making mistakes, even without distractions.  I find myself getting tense, frustrated and a tad grumpy.  And I think, "Why am I doing this to myself?  I knit for relaxation and contemplation time...to keep my hands busy when in a group setting...not to get aggravated."

So, I cut the yarn and have decided to move on.  I didn't like the density of the fabric, either, which was another strike against these gorgeous mittens.

As an experiment goes, this one failed to support the hypothesis.  I have about 2000 yards of some really gorgeous yarn that I have no idea what to do with.

And here's the funny.  When I was talking with David about whether or not to cut this project, my biggest concern was all that yarn with no purpose.  He said, "you have a room full of yarn with no purpose."

That boy doesn't get it.  This yarn was bought for this purpose.  To make some gorgeous color-work mitts.  After it succeeded in that purpose I would have had approximately 1800 yards leftover to make something else, but it could happily sit in a basket and await its next destiny BECAUSE it had fulfilled its first.  Unfortunately, it's going to have to sit in a basket and await its first destiny and I have absolutely no idea what to do with it.

About all that other yarn?  Well, it was either bought because I had a specific project in mind, or a general concept of what I wanted out of it, or it was bought because I liked it.  If it hasn't achieved its destiny yet is only exemplary of the fact that I'm not a knitting/weaving factory and have only a limited amount of time to do things.

Today's picture is of the gorgeous socks I'm working on using my Signature needles.  I love these needles.  they are slick and strong and have the tiniest points imaginable.  I love that they could serve as a weapon should I need them to (ha!).  The pattern is called "Hickory" by Jane Cochran from "A Knitter's Book of Wool" by Clara Parkes.  The yarn is sumptuous:  Springtree Road's Julep Twist socks (merino, cashmere and nylon blend in colorway Idyl).  The pattern doesn't look like much in this picture, but when I finish the second sock and take pics of both of them on my feet you'll love how the ribbing branches out and looks very organic.  They will be a beautiful pair of socks that I'm going to thoroughly enjoy wearing and showing off!

TGWE # 6: Learning about myself as a knitter

I've started the 6th project in my "great wool experiment."  They are a gorgeous pair of color-work mittens using a gorgeous striped lacey cuff with a blue and white graphic color-work pattern for the hand.

And I think they are probably the prettiest mitts I've ever worked.

And I also find that I have no patience for them.

Working the cuff was particular difficult.  I'm not sure why because the lace pattern wasn't really that hard, but I kept having to go back and fix things---at least I was noticing the errors as I made them.  And I really like the two round stripes of each color.  It brings out the different colors and makes for a gorgeous cuff.  As you can see.

Then when I started the color-work portion I realized how much easier it is for me to do color-work than it is to do lace.  I think it's because I only have to remember 2 things--blue or white--as opposed to a bunch of different stitches (5 or 6 in the lace pattern).

So, after working on the mitten for 30 minutes yesterday I decided to put it aside and work on something else.  Keeps me from hating the project, and allows me to rest the brain.  I randomly selected another lace project from my current unfinisheds...I could only stand 30 minutes of that before I  put it back in my closet and selected the next project.

This one is a sock--in a gorgeous cashmere merino blend yarn in a dark green color.  The knitting is only knits and purls, but put together in such a way that the ribbing forms unique slants and curves.  And I thoroughly enjoy working on this one.  In fact, I knitted on it most of the day yesterday and finished the leg and got into the heel.  That's some pretty serious progress if you think about it.  And I'm not bored.  I'm happy with this project, as a matter of fact.

So, what I've learned about myself during TGWE #6 is that I don't like lace.  Even though I'm thoroughly attracted to it, I have no patience for it.  I don't want to "think" about my knitting, at least not right now...I want my knitting to be the thing that flows off of my needles.  I think that, in the end, I'm much more interested in the yarn than I am in the patterning.

This is a very important lesson to know about onesself as a knitter.  It will help me pick projects in the future and know that IF I HAVE to choose the lace pattern, that I'm going to be very long in the knitting of it, and I'll probably hate it before I'm finished.  But that's ok because I'll love it when I'm done.

Lace knitting is definitely something I need to save for those times when I need to be challenged in my hobby--and right now this isn't even close to that!

TGWE #5: Completed

The Sweet Fern Mitts are gorgeous.  I love the way they look, love the way they fit, but man, the wool (Edelweiss by Schoeller and Stahl) is so itchy I can't wear it.

And that makes me very sad.

If anyone out there is interested in a pair of gorgeous mitts, please let me know.  You can have them for the cost of the wool:  $15 plus whatever it costs to ship them to you.  They fit a woman's hand and are very stretchy.  They will be extremely warm.

My thoughts about the wool, besides it being itchy.  It's a very dense spin that has created a very round yarn.  The stitch definitely, therefore, is gorgeous.  It's very lofty and the cables really pop, as you can see.  The ribbing that goes around the hand created a nice snug fit without and the knit wales are pronounced and very pretty.

What I found while knitting is that the yarn wants to knit up very tightly. I  had to keep reminding myself to knit looser so that I could easily get my needles into the stitches on the next round.  The cable, at times, could be difficult to completely twist.  The overall finished product, though, is a nice, dense fabric that will wear for a long time and be extremely warm.

I did enjoy working this pattern and will look for another yarn that I think will do the cables justice to make a pair of these mitts for myself.  I'm not sure if it is the extra amount of hay present in the yarn (I picked out what I saw) that was causing me problems, or if this wool has simply taken me beyond the limits of my comfort level.

The Great Wool Experiment #5

TGWE #5 is well under way.  I started it a couple of days ago and have almost reached the point in the mitt where I start working on the thumb increases.  I love the cable, even though I didn't read the errata first and am doing it backwards.  I looked at the chart when I first started knitting the mitts, and then looked at the picture and thought it didn't look right, but I went with the chart because my knitting intuition isn't as confident as it should be.

I'm not ripping back and starting over, but the cable looks interesting and pretty so I'll keep it.

What I'm finding about working with this yarn.  It's Edelweiss by Schoeller and Stahl in a warm chocolate color.  The yarn is "woolen spun" which means that it isn't carded before spinning which makes the fibers come together in all different directions rather than being a smooth thread.  You see little halos everywhere you look with this yarn.  It's really quite lovely.

I would describe the hand as "crisp" which results in a gorgeous fat stitch.  Just look at this close up of the ribbing section of the mitt.

If you click on the photo and look at the close up you can see the "furriness" of the yarn.  It really is quite a nice look.  I agree with the designer, Clara Parkes, that these mitts need to be knitted with woolen spun yarn.  After looking at several projects on Ravely last night, the pattern comes out kind of limp in other yarns.  But in a nice crisp wooly-wool...it's truly sweet.

Knitting with the yarn has been a bit of a challenge for me.  It feels very tight on size 5 needles.  I tried on the mitt and it fits like it should, so I don't want to go up a needle size.  I thought about how I like working socks in the round on 5 DPNs, so I got out an extra set of size 5 needles to have my cable needle handy and have switched to working with 5 and it is somewhat better.  I'll see what I think tonight when I have a full 30 minutes with it in the "square" instead of in the "triangle."

And for the record, on the next mitt, I'm going to work the cable as intended so you can see the difference....I'm not too fretful over matchy-matchiness...and in the end my hands will be just as warm which is really the whole point of these lovely mitts.

The Great Wool Experiment #4

Please forgive me for not posting a picture of my Great Wool Experiment #4.  I love this yarn, love this project, but it's a gift and the extremely small chance that the mother-to-be might chance upon this blog entry makes me pause at posting a picture of the loveliness that flew off of my needles in the past few weeks.

Instead I'll show you the two blocks I've completed for the Noro blanket in the past week.  This is block 6 and 7:  Forest Hike and Night Falling.

Now, to talk about the wool experiment #4.  The project is a baby set knitted up in a springy, cushy hand-dyed yarn from Dream in Color.  The yarn is named "smooshy" for a reason.  It's indeed smooshy and soft and gorgeously round.  A wonder to knit with.  I loved every minute I worked on this project and couldn't wait to see the next little bit get finished.

I chose a beautiful pinky-orange color called "Flamingo Pie" for the October little one.  There is a sweater with bright purple buttons and a cap and booties with knitted ties.  Everything is so tiny and cute, and the pair of booties, with their ties, took only about 8 grams of yarn.  If ever I'm in doubt about what to make from scrap sock yarn, I now know!

Of course, I need some more baby feet around to make them for.

I very much enjoyed working on project #4 in this exercise in getting to know wool.  I did feel a little like a pro working with superwash sock yarn, though, as I absolutely love working with sock yarn and have made numerous pairs of socks and other items from the yarn.  I think sock yarn is a perfect match for baby items, though.  The thinner yarn allows for smaller clothing items that aren't too bulky for the tiny one, and since they won't see the exact kind of wear, especially for the tiny tiny ones, that socks typically see, then you can knit it at a slightly looser gauge and not lose integrity of the fabric.  In fact, the "smooshier" yarn is perfect for this looser gauge because it blooms and fills in the fabric and makes for a luxurious item.

Now, onto the next:  a pair of cabled mittens in a woolen spun yarn.

Cabin Socks

As soon as I finished the Flicka Hat, I started Cabin Socks.  This is the 3rd project in the Great Wool Experiment I launched just a little over a week ago. (10 days ago I talked about the 1st project).  It's nice that the patterns at the beginning of this book are small things.  Hats, socks, mittens, etc.  I'll be examining lots of different wools and getting to understand how they work on little, fun, quick projects.  Just my thing.

I will do the sweaters eventually.  I'm fairly certain.  I will certainly enjoy the learning process, and knitting for the "mini me" will be much more fun (and quicker) than knitting for the current me.  Next year...

In the meantime, I'm working on Cabin Socks.  These are knit with Naturally's Perendale Yarn, a DK weight yarn that is squishy and springy and perfect for socks.  These are knitting up very quickly on size 4 needles.  I love the color and I honestly can't wait to put them on my feet.  They are going to be perfect "wear around the house" socks (too thick for any shoes I own).

I'm guessing, based on my internet searching and difficulty finding this sourced in shops, that this lovely little New Zealand yarn isn't available any longer.  There are other lines by Naturally, but it seems that the Perendale has gone away.

One of the things I find interesting about this yarn is that there are definite fuzz to it...some of the hairs sticking out give it a lot of grab as well as character.  When I pulled the band from around the skein, Pearl jumped up from whatever she was doing and came to investigate.  She wanted to get her paws on that yarn (her teeth too, I'm sure!).  I will definitely be making her a toy out of this when I'm finished with the socks.

Here is a picture of the socks just started.  The yarn is a gorgeous dark green.  In the light it comes across as a gorgeous emerald.

Making Hats

I love making hats.  It almost makes me want to move someplace with cold weather so I can wear them more often...but not quite.  I really don't like being cold.  BUT I'm very well-prepared in case the weather does turn cooler, like it did this past winter (that would never end).

The 2nd project in the great Wool Experiment was another hat.  I showed you a picture of the colorwork section about half finished last week.  Over the weekend, I went into retreat (more on that tomorrow) and finished the hat.  I love the hat.  It's so unbelievably soft, plushy, and sweet.  As soon as I finished it I plunked it on my head and told David he needed to take a picture of me in it.

He then proceeded to go do a load of laundry, come in and start prepping something for dinner, and then tidied up in the kitchen.  While I'm not about to interrupt anyone cleaning in my house, I was beginning to get quite warm.

So, David came over and did a little photoshoot and this adorable picture came out of that.

I do love this hat and it will definitely be my "go to" when the weather turns cold (wool, blended with alpaca and angora and then double thickness due to the stranded colorwork=very warm...Fresco yarn is amazing!).  I've picked out a pattern to do a cowl in the pinks and green (with buttons, yea!) as well as some mittens in the grey and a darker grey that I had laying around in my small skeins box.  The colorwork was fun and interesting...made me concentrate which I don't always have to do while knitting.  And the yarn is a simple pleasure to work with.

I will also point out that I make mistakes in my knitting.  I don't fret over it.  I'm not perfect and the chance that someone will notice that I've made a mistake in my knitting is pretty slim.  I got off from time to time in my colorwork pattern.  Never more than one stitch, and if the mistake was close by I'd correct it.  If not, well, I'd just let it be.  The structure wasn't going to be compromised, and the overall pattern has so much going on that you'd really have to look to notice.  And I figure if someone is looking that close AND says something, then they just don't understand me and my knitting principles...so there!

With project #2 finished, I promptly cast on Project #3.  It's a pair of socks in a thicker wool than I usually use.  It's dark green, plump and really wonderful (David says it's scratchy, but he's said that about everything so far).  I'll talk about it later this week as I'm still getting to know this yarn (Naturally Perendale).

And for the record, I finished 3 projects this weekend, made HUGE progress on the baby blanket, frogged my very first knitted hat (which was too big and I want to use the yarn for something else, and as fate would have it it's been discontinued), and noticed (in a big way) just how much weight I've lost and how good I'm looking.  I realized that the girls favor me quite a lot.  Something I hadn't paid attention to because I attributed much of my "shape" to what was evidently weight.  This getting to know the new me is going to be a long experience and one that I'm looking forward to seeing all the way through!

Wool Experiment Project #2

As I cruise along on project #2 in the Great Wool Experiment, I'm astonished at how much fun I'm having.  I can't wait to start #3 (but that's not astonishing, that's just me) and I'm looking around in the book ooh-ing and aah-ing at all the projects to come.  I'll have to take a skip ahead when it comes to the sweaters.  I'm NOT making any sweaters for myself until I've reached my goal weight...so I'll skip ahead to the scarves and shawls sections once I'm finished with the socks.  That should take up some time--especially looking at my previous track record with scarves!

Project #2 is called Flicka.  It's a hat knit in the Bohus Knitting style.  According to Parkes, Bohus knitting originated in Sweden and is a form of stranded colorwork that uses more than 2 colors per row (unlike Fair Isle) and sometimes incorporates purl stitches to blur the edges and make the colorwork section look more decorative.  Bohus Knitting also traditionally uses yarn with angora in it (this is according to an episode of Knitting Daily).  The angora, or other yarn with a fuzzy texture to it, creates a halo around the stitches which blurs them further. The end result in all of this should be a slightly fuzzy colored pattern.

I can't tell yet how fuzzy the colorwork is for this pattern (you can judge for yourself in the pic below), but I CAN tell you that I'm intrigued.  I'm challenged and I'm having loads of fun.  I worked on this for over an hour straight last night.  I find colorwork rather addictive...I don't want to put it down because I want to see how it turns out.  I suspect I'll have the remaining 15 rows or so of colorwork finished today.

The yarn? Fresco by Classic Elite is a little bit of heaven (wool, baby alpaca and angora).  If David told me this one was scratchy, I'd know he was allergic to wool.  It's so soft, feels so wonderful while knitting it, and the knitted fabric is drapy and so very pretty.  I truly think the pleasure of this yarn is in the knitting of it...though I'm sure anyone who wears it will tell you it's in the wearing of it!  You, the reader, might think it's in the seeing of it in this picture.  I'd think we were all right.

Hill Country Hat

Two nights ago I finished the first project in the great wool experiment.  I love this hat.  It's squishy, very pretty, and super quick to knit.  It also fits my big head pretty well (I added one extra repeat of the hills and valley pattern).  I'm hoping it fits Ernie's.  If not, I have myself a super-warm new hat!

About the yarn (since this is the wool experiment).  Upon first grabbing the ball of Rowan's Pure Life British Breeds Suffolk yarn, I thought, "hmmm...itchy, definitely crunchy--I can see why Clara Parkes uses that description--and rather hairy."  There are bits of different hairs--white and black--that stick out here and there throughout the yarn.

I did notice that the yarn was very round.  It's three ply, and upon untwisting it to look at the plies, I noticed that the individual plies are all smooth and very lofty.  The plies almost look like wool "cotton candy."  When plied together, the resulting yarn is round and very smooshy--despite the initial impression of "itch."  When knitted, the resulting fabric is so cushy, yet strong, that I wanted to sit and squeeze it.

I was worried that wearing the yarn might itch my forehead or ears.  After putting it on, though, all I felt was warmth.  I also worried that knitting with it might irritate my hands.  I found that after starting to work with the yarn, it didn't feel itchy.  I did notice a sheepy smell, which was more enhanced upon opening the zip-loc bag I keep my projects in to protect them from curious kitties.  The smell definitely added to the charm of the yarn and I found myself smelling it from time to time as I progressed in my knitting.

Because of the climate where we live, I can't imagine knitting a sweater or jacket out of this yarn, though I believe that it would be like a great big hug on a cold day if I lived somewhere cold.  Realistically, I can see knitting a blanket.  I saw one on Ravelry that used different breeds (thus different colors) in a log-cabin blanket.  It was very pretty and something I might want to try eventually.  I can also see some cabled throw pillows or a bag--slightly felted.

I'm really glad I started this journey into wool discovery.  I can't wait to see what the next projects bring.  I've already casted on project #2, the Flicka Hat, in Fresco yarn by Classic Elite.  I'll talk more about that tomorrow.

Wool...

I've made a little discovery this weekend.  One I thought I'd never really make.

I love wool.  I didn't think it would fascinate me so much, but I love it.  I recently purchased and read Clara Parkes's "The Knitters Book of Wool" (AKBOW) and decided to knit the patterns in it. Yes, all of them.  Now, I'm only on the first one and may change my mind before I'm done in 10 years, but I really like the experimental process that this will bring to me, I'll learn about wool in a way I've never thought about before, and I'll have some great projects in the end.

First, let me tell you about Parkes's book.  It's very well written, and her love of yarn is evident from the first page.  Her love of WOOL, I should add.  She inspired me to try out a fiber that so far I've kept to only that that feels soft and supple to my hands upon first touch.

My skin is sensitive, I've always told myself.  My husband's skin is very sensitive (I do believe he has a wool allergy as he describes it as "hot" when it touches him).  Because of that, I've never really given wool much thought.  We also live in a warm climate and hardly need hardy coats, sweaters, hats, mittens or gloves.

But, as I've played around with knitting these past couple of years, I've become more and more accepting of wool.  Not just the superwash merino kind, but others as well.  After reading AKBOW, I learned about all the different breeds, and the different qualities of their fleece, and I've become very curious.  I wanted to get to know these different wools, knit with them in projects specifically designed for them, and truly appreciate small batch yarns.

So far, I've started the Hills and Valleys hat and I'm truly enjoying working on it.  I'm using Rowan's Purelife British Sheep Breeds (chunky) yarn.  The yarns are all undyed and showcase the wool of different British Sheep breeds.  It would be tempting to try them all...but I do have to focus my knitting time as, unfortunately, it isn't unlimited.   I chose Suffolk because I liked the soft grey color. I love seeing all the different fibers in this yarn.  There is soft grey, white and black.  I love that it smells sheepy.  I am absolutely amazed at how springy and cushy the finished fabric is.  Elizabeth described it as "probably being very warm" (this despite the fact that she turned her nose up at the "itch" factor).

I'm looking forward to washing this hat and seeing how it blooms.  I love the stitch definition and how it feels on the needles.  I'm fascinated by the structure of the fabric and am looking forward to getting it off of the needles to see how well it fits.  I'm thinking it's going to my hairdresser Ernie...if he approves of slightly itchy wool. :)

Today's picture is of the hat, just started.  It was knitted from the crown down:  always a sketchy start but once a couple of rows in it's fine.