Sunday, September 5, 2010

Long Overdue

Oh how I love long weekends. I took Friday off as well to be able to really relax and get a bit of cleaning done. I'm also obviously taking this chance to get some blogging done as well!

I can't believe how long I've had my February Lady sweater finished and haven't posted pictures. I guess that's sometimes what happens when there's a sweater you really really like that gets worn immediately after finishing.


There was enough yarn left at the end for me to be able to make a matching hat, which is rather cute when paired with the sweater.


I also made this cute flowerpot hat while I was on the road doing USDA work.





A while ago I'd received a bunch of corriedale on trade, so decided to make a chunky three-ply yarn sweater/coat thing. It is extremely warm. I think it'll be fine for a coat-sweater this winter!



Also, apparently my nephew Nick really enjoys wearing hats, and has been borrowing Ally's pink piggle hat, so for his birthday this year he gets his own nice warm handknit hat!

Options

My wonderful Mother-in-law (the one who got me the Jumbo flyer kit a few blog posts ago) liked the shawl in the previous post so much that she asked for one herself. It was such a fun knit I was already planning on making more, so am ecstatic to knit it again. Though I may not only take 5 days at it this time!

Since she's in Michigan and I'm in North Carolina, I'm gonna post a bunch of yarn options here for her to look at.

First up is some handspun. I have beautiful alpaca fiber that spins into a slightly thicker than fingering weight yarn, but it is oh so buttery soft. I can easily adjust the pattern by using a larger needle to make it more open and lacey. This is a swatch of (from left to right) a commercially prepared mixture of bamboo, alpaca and merino (the blueish one), Lola (brown), Snowdrift (white), and Cinnamon (beige)




I can also take any of the three on the right and make a tweedy blend; Lola plus Snowdrift would make for a very pretty carmel color, for example. This little swatch I'm going to mail along with the birthday gift that I spaced out on packing when we came to Colorado for Jenny's wedding.

I also have some washed and ready to card Corriedale which is not as soft as the alpaca, but it makes for lovely varigated yarn that makes a spectrum of natural colors, all from one sheep.



But she was talking more something that could be used for formal, and while these are soft and beautiful, they are more rustic.

So I have some commercially prepared yarns that are already in my stash, waiting for a project!



A black and white tofutsies yarn. Very soft and silky because of the soysilk, and it will block well.

Premier Bamboo Merino and Nylon sock yarn. This should subtly stripe, and is a muted orange, blue and grey color. Very pretty, very soft.


A couple options from Berocco Sox. The top one is browns with purple, the bottom one is greys with blue. Wider stripes than the Sensations yarn, and this isn't as soft, but it's extremely pretty.

Lion brand Sock Ease. A charcoal grey base with yellow, white and orange accents. Mom Kass did mention blacks and blues, but hey, gotta have a little yellow, right? (As an aside, this is Jeff's favorite of all the options in my stash)

a gorgeous handpainted merino yarn. All yellows and tones of yellow. I personally couldn't resist tossing this one in as an option :)



Finally, if none of these seems just right, I'm hoping that they'll end up coming here for Thanksgiving, at which point I can take Mom Kass around to my favorite knitting shops and have her pick out just the right one!