Knititude

A good omen indeed*

Well, I never again want to come this close to running out of yarn; as it was, I unraveled my gauge swatch, fished one foot-long strand out of the trash, re-sewed both side seams using different yarn so I could salvage those pieces-- and here is what remained (at left).  But it was worth it:  this golden yarn, Karabella Empire Silk, has been burning a hole in the pocket of my stash for months.  I must have bought it in late 2005 or early 2006, because I went looking for it after seeing Gabrielle Hamill's short sleeved top, worked in the same color, in the Spring/Summer 2005 issue of Vogue Knitting.  I could only find 5 skeins in this colorway--not quite enough for Ms. Hamill's pattern (of which photos can be found on Ravelry, but none in the color originally shown in the magazine).

I thought the combination of textures in the swatches I made for this top would be wonderful with this yarn; texture, sheen and color together reminded me of ancient gold jewelry, especially Etruscan pieces made with gold granulation, a technique in which tiny gold beads are fused to a gold surface.  Still, I was a little torn once I started, because the smooth surface of lots of stockinette really would have played up the sheen of the silk.  Plus, the garter stitch just seemed to gobble yardage; after getting halfway up the front, I gave up on the idea of a boat neck:  this top wanted to have a scooped neckline, front and back!  And sleeves?  Even tiny cap sleeves?  Forget it.

I persevered-- I just really liked the slip stitch columns against the garter, and I thought the slipped stitches would tie in perfectly with a simple narrow I-cord edge around the armholes and neck.  I picture wearing this top on a sultry summer evening, with a flowing skirt, or with white jeans...and gold jewelry, of course.  I think I'll name it "Etrusca," after the pre-Roman civilization that inspired it.

*My song didn't let me down.

The hats that didn't happen

I had reluctantly decided not to bring my Wyvern Wrap along during our various holiday junkets, reasoning that a cashmere-blend sweater was not ideal travel-- (nor warm weather) knitting.  Instead I brought a nice muted Italian merino from Lana Gatto, purchased for hat swatching, along with a couple of beach-glass green skeins of Alchemy Synchronicity, which I also thought would make a lovely hat.  I did manage to catalogue the U.S. division of my stash for Ravelry, in the process finding a couple of skeins of aquamarine Debbie Bliss baby cashmerino--fine hat material. 

However, I haven't knit a stitch in the last two weeks.  But that's OK!  Because I'm looking forward to dabbling in hats, tweaking my tweedy colorwork (also found another stashed ball of Skye Tweed), and a couple of other things after our return to Italy this Friday, and besides--sometimes you just have to put the needles aside and take the kids to the zoo*.

Happy New Year!

*Palm Beach Zoo--the otter enclosure, and an unknown reptilian gent.  Or lady.

Neglecting the blog but not the stash

Negotiating the whitewater week before Christmas left me no time for knitting, much less blogging.  I did manage a couple of additions to my stash along the way!  (There's no way I can compete for the World's Biggest Stash, but maybe The Most Far-Flung, with stashage in Como, Italy and in Massachusetts, USA?)  Happy holidays all!

Working on my Wyvern

The right front of my Wyvern Wrap (size small) has been growing at a good clip; I'm almost finished with the side shaping increases, and soon will cast on stitches for the right sleeve.  I'm having a nagging fear that the sleeve, which is essentially a drop sleeve, may end up being too snug for this style, at a circumference of 13 1/2 inches for my size.  I think this fear will be best addressed by knitting a little farther, so I can see how the sleeve looks and feels.

I went into my stash for the yarn:  Filatura di Crosa "Trilly," 50% silk and 50% cashmere, which swatched for me at the same gauge as the Kollage Yarns "Yummy" (merino and silk) called for in the pattern.  The Trilly has a nice tight twist--not the slightest bit of pilling or fuzzing, at least so far--and a silvery green color which reminds me of the leaves of an olive tree--beautiful.  I love the texture of the unblocked fabric, but the wrap isn't going to fit me if I leave it that way!

Missing my LYS and my OYS

The benefits of living in Como (and there are many) notwithstanding, there is a serious shortage of LYSs here.  I've found several shops that sell yarn, but they seem to follow the odd (to me, anyway) marketing formula of selling a combination of socks, underwear, and a SMALL selection of yarn--much like this store I found in Bellagio, back in May.  Word is there are several great yarn shops in Milano, but don't know when I'll get a chance to go there....  Silly me, I thought the small part of my stash I brought with me would last me until Christmas (when we return to the States for the holidays), but it's only October, and already I'm pining away for Elissa's Creative Warehouse, Putting on the Knitz, the Black Sheep Knitting Co., and of course my favorite Online Yarn Shop, WEBS.

Anyway, I had decided to make Sherwood for myself, in either a sweater or a sleeveless jumper (and yes, to write the pattern for adult sizes), but I didn't have the yarn for it.   I couldn't find an Italian online yarn shop (whether because there are none, or because my fledgling Italian is not up to the task, I don't know).  So I headed--virtually speaking--to the U.K., where in the process of deciding to try Debbie Bliss' Cashmerino Aran (from Angel Yarns, "Europe's Largest Online Yarn Store"), I also happened across a lovely cotton yarn from HipKnits, in "Seaweed" shades of green and blue.   To order from HipKnits, I had to open an Italian Paypal account, since my U.S. Paypal account wouldn't allow me to ship to a non-U.S. address.  And then I got an e-mail from Angel Yarns informing me that they would ship my Debbie Bliss when they got it back in stock.  As to when that would be....  Wonder how much WEBS charges to ship to Italy.

 

Rabid kitty hat, etc.

Teenaged Stepdaughter has pointed out that the rabillettes might be even more appropriate for the Kitty Hat designed by Kitty Schmidt (http://www.kittyville.com/knit.html), and featured in Stitch 'N Bitch immediately after the Sparkle Hat.  I have to agree. 

As for as how to best utilize the rabillettes, that will take some experimentation.  On the swatch at left, I tried using only seasonally appropriate green bells, which I thought went nicely with Berroco's "Medley" yarn. I suppose I could have used Christmas red yarn, although my eyes hurt just thinking about it. Anyway, the r-ettes are spaced fairly close together in the bottom two rows, which I'm thinking would work best for a border, and farther apart in the top three rows.  They are quite large, 1 1/4" wide and 1 1/8" high, and could probably be spaced even farther apart with good effect, or even used as individual accents.  Some of them wanted to turn and show their backsides, so I let them, to give an accurate idea of how they will look on a project. 

What an odd direction I've taken since my first project after returning to knitting, a year or so ago.  Here it is again, the Aran Coat by Dame DB (accessorized with TV remote--a forbidden toy unless Mom is trying to shoot a few photos).  That same bright blue merino yarn (brand? no idea) used to be part of the project that caused me to stow my knitting needles for over a decade: a sweater in the round that I inexplicably did not realize was big enough to fit a sumo wrestler until it was almost up to my armpits.

Anyway, once I decided to try knitting again, I thought to begin with something for the smallest person I knew--my year-old son.  I liked this pattern in DB's Classic Knits for Kids, but it only included directions for one size, 4-6 years, and it called for aran weight yarn--too heavy.  I pulled Sumo out (ouch!  I remembered that blue as being a little less intense) and the yarn appeared to be light worsted weight.  Well, what if I followed the pattern, using worsted instead of aran?  It would probably turn out to be, oh, size 2 or 3; if it was still too big, he could grow into it....  So I frogged the thing and got to work (no, I didn't make a swatch).  As you can see, the finished article did turn out rather oversized; I estimate it will truly fit him well sometime next year. 

The only part that really gave me trouble was the collar border.  With no schematic of the collar, and no photo of how it looked from the back, these directions confused me:  "Cont in patt until border fits along shaped edge of collar to centre...."  Huh?  So I took the pattern and partially finished collar into my friendly local yarn shop, Creative Warehouse in Needham, MA, where one of the employees looked at them and said, "Hmm.  I don't know.  I guess you'll have to just trust in the pattern."  "'Trust in the pattern?'"  "Yes, just keep going, it will make itself clear.  Trust in the pattern."  Okay, Yoda.

Well, Yoda was right--and the directions seemed crystal clear, in hindsight.  Next, I knit a scarf, slavishly following the pattern (see "Chevron & Feather Scarf" in "Finished!").  After that, I started making changes to the patterns; small ones, at first, but then....  More in my next post.