Irresistable

With some wonderful hand-dyed yarn I purchased a while back, I decided to try out the Shetland Triangle from Wrap Style. Here is an image of a sort of swatch in progress. Of course it's really not a swatch, it's the beginning. Who cares! I'm going to block the living daylights out of it anyway. Lace totally agrees with my knitting style -- intricate in thought and execution, yet without backtracking in preparation.



I have an opinion question: I will soon be knitting 2 lace scarves, one in a variegated and one in a solid yarn. Variegated yarns tend to give me trouble when choosing a pattern. I'm not sure whether to choose a small-scale pattern or a larger one. Any opinions?


Here's an opinion of mine. While I love the efficiency of a swift and ball winder, I far more enjoy the aesthetics of a hand-wound center-pull ball of yarn. Compare below:



For me, hand-wound balls tend to fall apart less, particularly when thrown into a bag for storage, and just make me happy because they look so characteristic.

Comments

Sarah said…
I totally agree with you about the hand-wound balls of yarn - but then again I'm too cheap to buy a ball winder when I can do it myself, so it's all I've ever known. Hey, what happened to that white lace you were knitting?
8:00 PM
reluctantMANGO said…
Lovely lace! I'm taking to it as well these days, and I've found that larger scale patterns are better for variegated yarns... smaller scale patterns tend to get lost, IMHO. That said, I find myself with mostly variegated yarn, and lots of textured patterns I'd like to knit. What's a girl go do?
12:40 PM
Anonymous said…
That looks purty...I have yarn to make that shawl...i guess I should start it at some point...
4:04 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Introducing Escargot

Image
Escargot It was June 2010 and Kel, Danielle, and I were flying down the highway coming back to Alexandria from TNNA (the yarn industry trade show) in Columbus, Ohio. Danielle may or may not have been pushing the speed limit just a smidgen, and Kel may or may not have been clinging to the Mini's door in abject terror. There was a lot of chatter and planning, interspersed with laughter and highway-induced exasperation. I was taking notes as we planned the next year in yarn for fibre space ... and I was doodling. One of the doodles turned into the Hatskarfenmitten . The other doodle became Escargot . But it took a while. Things changed and we moved to California, but I couldn't get the idea of a funky, asymmetrical, spiral-enhanced cloche out of my head. This summer, I bumped into Amy Singer, the editor of Knitty , at a couple of yarn festivals, and told her I had a really cool hat idea. She said, "send it in." Pretending we are waiting for the train. With r
Read more

Liquorice Allsorts Socks

Image
New socks yay! These have been my 'boring purse knitting' for a while and they are finally done! I had to re-knit the first sock, which was a major bummer, but serves me right for knitting all the way to the tip of the toe before trying it on. The yarn is Regia in one of the Kaffe Fassett designed stripe patterns. These are just basic 3x1 rib socks, 72 sts around, on US#1s. The colors reminded me of liquorice allsorts (not that allsorts have THAT much blue in them, but you get the idea) hence the name. I love the mismatched stripes Now to find my next easy socks to carry around!
Read more

My 2012

Image
In looking ahead to the new year, I've also been looking back a little. I was thinking about all the things I did for the first time (or first time in a very  long time) in 2012. Let's be honest, most of them are pretty insignificant, but that's okay. Firsts in 2012: Ran a mile (for the first time in over 10 years!)  Drove most of the way across the country (towing a trailer) Ate an oyster (raw!) Had a helicopter flying lesson That last one was on New Year's Eve and I am still pretty excited about it. As part of family Christmas, my sister-in-law offered all the family members a very brief flying lesson in a Robinson R22 - a very small helicopter. I was a little nervous but I know that she is very experienced and very safe. We had ground school and then I (in my geekiness) read more about the history of helicopter development and the controls.  Taking off - hovering is the hardest part Off we go! Coming in for a landing I got to control the cy
Read more