Over the past few weeks, my "fantasy knitting life" has completely exploded, rather at the expense of my real knitting life I might add. It's certainly balancing out what I'm coming to think of as my knitting monastery days of the wedding stole where I was focused on the one project and had no time for ravelry or yarn shopping or thinking about let alone touching other projects... plus I was working in laceweight white!!! No wonder I've been going gaga over color!
Although my aesthetic tastes tend towards the more minimal (ie non-decorative) I've always loved color and texture and of course, knitting is a fantastic outlet for that. I think it's why I keep getting drawn back to sock yarn, even though I have never actually knit a pair of socks with sock yarn (my only socks are the Tyrolean Stockings). I could see getting into socks... one day. Or at least knitting a pair or two. I loved knitting the Tyrolean Stockings. I don't think it's a "waste" to knit socks, but I do feel there are so many other items deserving of knitted attention that enhance a wardrobe in a more visible way.
But yeah, sock yarn. I think people are more willing to go outside of their normal wardrobe color comfort zone with socks, so it would make sense that there is a wider variety of colors available in sock yarn. I'm not sure if this is actually true, but it certainly seems like it. There's more variety, more experimentation, brighter colors, and more interesting color combinations. It's enough to drive a person crazy!
I also like the higher yardage of sock yarn and the comfort of knowing that even if you don't knit socks, you can probably find a one skein project, like, oh, say, the Baby Surprise Jacket! I'm sure I've said this before but I've made about a million of these in my head with every beautiful skein of sock yarn I've ever seen in person or online.
Anyway, all this is to say that, um, well, I have totally blown my yarn budget for this month. Determined to make a Little Giraffe with my Sundara citrus zinger, and failing so far in my quest to obtain the contrasting Sundara color of my dreams through cash or trade, I decided to *gasp* look at other options. Through the hilariously titled "Satanic Sock Yarn" thread on the Sundara Love ravelry group I received lots of good pointers for beautiful sock yarns with a similar yarn base that would be compatible and this led me to MadelineTosh.
You know how if you hear a name a lot it suddenly hits home, even if you don't really know where you heard it before? Well, that's what happened with Sundara, and now MadelineTosh. A quick look at the site led me quickly to the conclusion that I needed to look no further - this was the yarn for me! In addition to Sundara of course... to go with my Sundara. Think of the considerable advantages in this particular situation: a) yarn is available with minimal time investment (I did have to do a little searching to find the colorways I wanted available in various places) b) I don't have to part with one of my precious citrus zinger skeins in a trade and c) I was debating between brown, orange and green as the contrasting color... now I am getting all of them and planning on making a family of three giraffes, big, medium and small!!!
Actually, I *um* *cough* *splutter* ordered 5 skeins in total: bark, citrus and lettuce for brown, orange and green respectively, and I couldn't resist adding ginseng not only because it is so so pretty but because it pretty much has brown, orange AND green in it, so I might use it for one of the contrasting giraffe colors - user stash photos give a better sense of it eg here (ravelry, flickr) and here (ravelry, flickr) is a really cute giraffe that uses multiple colors so that's an option too.
Then, well, I also got victory garden just because. Again - so pretty! Ironically, the official photo has it looking a lot more like ginseng but user stash photos have it looking rather different (ravelry, flickr).
So I am dying to receive the yarn and get started on Sundara/MadTosh Giraffemania! (By the way, I ordered from both Yarn and Fiber and Sealed with a Kiss as not everything I wanted was in stock or available at one store.)
My recent online travels have also had me drooling over Mama Blue (although forget it, that's as hard to get as Sundara - here are ravelry and flickr links) and, more attainably, Oceanwind Knits (their hand-dyed merino in particular), and Pagewood Farm (Alyeska and Yukon in particular). I'm holding off though, and there's a much longer list of recommendations that I am avoiding for now... and I am absolutely not signing up for any more yarn subscriptions!
In other wallet-damaging news, my custom order of Big Tryst is ready so that's another hit on the old budget, although very very exciting... I can't wait to receive this order as well, and it means I'll have 9 of the 13 colors! I'm going to make the barn raising quilt (ravelry, book website) from the book Knitalong: Celebrating the Tradition of Knitting Together although I do want to try one square first and see if this is the best use of this beautiful yarn. I was going to wing it on the pattern but I think I'm just going to get the book, which has lots of other beautiful patterns including the Pillow of Sei Shonagon (ravelry, flickr) which I have always admired.
Speaking of sKNITches, here are some better photos of my recent order:
In other exciting news, I'm going to start swatching for my Pakucho blanket. I received the two books I ordered and I think I have selected Courtly (ravelry, flickr) from the Big Book of Quick Knit Afghans. This is a very "meat and potatoes" kind of book - more of a booklet really, with no frills, just photos and patterns, and while the photos are pretty good, the book is laid out in a strange way so that the photos and the patterns do not correspond at all!!! There are some beautiful blankets shown though, and all are knit with worsted weight yarn doubled up on #17 needles so they should live up to the "quick" of the title. Actually, I randomly saw a post on ravelry this morning asking about Knitpicks Options which lead me to review which tips I have and realize that I actually have #17 tips, which is fantastic as I was thinking I had to go and buy needles before I could start this. I've now entered all my tips on ravelry under sock dpns, which I am pretty sure I will never buy, so I avoid this problem in the future.
In other news, I received yet another package from my Secret Pal. I didn't mention it before but she had some beautiful stitch markers sent to me from Ruby N Purls a few weeks ago, and then just the other day I received an unexpected package from Amazon containing Custom Knits by Wendy Bernard. Oh my! I love this book! My Secret Pal has done a great job of introducing me to new things while pegging my tastes really well. I had actually seen and queued a couple of patterns in this book without actually taking note of or looking at the book... and now that I have the book, there are many more that I could see myself knitting. My Secret Pal was very sweetly worried that the patterns in the book are simple and possibly not as challenging as I like... ha! I explained to her that I have not yet knit what I would consider to be a "proper" sweater yet - the lacy hooded tunic doesn't really count in my mind as it didn't really need much fitting. That to me is the daunting and challenging part - not so much the knitting itself but selecting the right pattern and yarn and getting the right fit that will look good on me. The asymmetrical wrap doesn't really count either and look at the problems I have there with wearability, even though I knit it exactly as designed!!! (I am going to give that a go this winter though and see if I can figure out a way to wear it.)
So yes, I am looking forward to the challenge of knitting my first "real" sweater and I think this book is really going to help. Ingenue (ravelry) looks like something I would wear, and my other favorite is the Lion-Neck Cardigan (ravelry), although I don't really count that as a "real" sweater either (I imagine it's much easier to make a cardigan that fits). I also love the Paradise Beach Cover-up (ravelry) and the Karma tank (ravelry). There's nothing like a good cover-up and/or tank! Sorry, no flickr links yet... the book is new so there aren't any FO photos in ravelry yet.
I won't list all the other patterns in the book that I like but I am getting those fall sweater/cardigan urges. Here's another one I like - Starsky (ravelry, pattern) although not with the belt (again with the belts!) I particularly like this version (ravelry, flickr).
I love watching my friend's activity on ravelry - it's like a constant feast of inspiration. Still, I have to remember to occasionally actually knit... which I am off to do right now!
I am a sucker for Madelintosh yarns. Her colors are fabulous. I have yet to knit with her yarn but I keep buying her yarn just for the colors. I just got her Tosh Worsted which is available at Woolgirl and I am winding the yarn today so I can cast on the Favorite Sweater from Custom Knits.
Welcome to the wonder that is Madelintosh.
Posted by: Chrispy | Saturday, August 30, 2008 at 04:40 PM
I'm so glad you like the book!! You are right that cardigans, especially like the Lion Neck one in Custom Knits, are a bit easier to fit. However, once you select a pattern, I'm happy to help you with selecting the right size/customizations to get the fit perfect. Knitting sweaters top-down is a great way to ensure the right fit, as you can try them on mid-stream by slipping them onto waste yarn. Another trick I use is not only to try them on, but also then to wash them while I have them half-knit, on waste yarn. This is unorthodox but helps me ensure that it's not going to grow too much lengthwise, as I've had that happen before. Sometimes you can wash the swatch and measure the results but the entire sweater behaves differently because of its overall weight (kind of a sum being greater than its parts thing.) Hope you're having a great weekend!
Posted by: SP | Sunday, August 31, 2008 at 09:42 PM