Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Catching up

Lots of bits and pieces to talk about today, so grab a cuppa and pull up a chair.  I do like a good catch-up.

Firstly, confessions...

WIP's without progress:  Ferris Wheel, Star Ripple Blanket

FO's awaiting finishing details:  4x garter ear flap baby hats, all needing their tassel

Now, onto active knitting...

I've been making some ok progress on my Miette.  Top-down yokes just seem to go on for-EVER though, don't they??  I've finally split of for the sleeves and will be starting on those tonight (because sleeves first is the Way to Go, as we learned from Peasy!)

Miette, in Cascade 220 - 'Yakima Heather'
The colour is really hard to photograph though.  Mostly it just looks like army green, but when you really take a good look, there is so much depth to it. I spent the better part of an hour this afternoon in all different lights trying to capture a close-up to show you all, but to no avail.  It was like a petulant old lady who doesn't want to show her sweet side.  Maybe once it's finished I'll have better luck?

A simple cowl has been in the background of my mind for a while now - garterstitch, colourblocked, one vibrant/one neutral colour.  So I finally grabbed some yarn from work (oh, how I love being able to do this!) and set to after dinner.


The yarn is Jo Sharp Alpaca Silk Georgette (green) and Milla Mia Naturally Fine Merino (grey).  Both these yarns have been on my radar to try for such a long time, and when I stacked the colours against each other in the balls they were just gorgeous.

Now I've knitted up a good piece of the cowl, I'm not sure I still like it though?!

Somehow the colours don't pop as much as I imagined.  My original idea was to knit a block of green, a block of grey, then a final block of green/grey stripes.  I've since brought the grey block back down to a small section before starting the stripes, as I was getting concerned that the finished cowl was going to be too long and you wouldn't see the three blocks at once if you looped it around.

The jury's still out, and I'll keep going so I guess we'll see...what are your thoughts?  Keep or cull?

My travel knitting has been these socks, in cheery red Cascade Heritage sock yarn.  Have any of you tried this yarn?  It's really lovely.  A ever-so-slight heather, very soft to the touch and beautiful colours.


I'm only knitting on these sporadically, but it's nice to have a small travel project on hand for train trips and long car drives.

Last but not least, my precious Shibui yarn has finally found it's true calling - a slouchy beanie!  When I originally bought this yarn (again, from work.  That's never going to get old), I had plans for a long cowl, showcasing the different textures of the Pebble and Cima, but no matter which way I tried it, I couldn't get it to work as I intended.  Rather than persevere, I decided to try my hand at a beanie instead.  I've used Pebble in 'Ivory' and Cima in 'Fjord' for the main body, and *super* bright Cima in 'Jumpsuit' for the accent. 


There will be a big orange pom pom to finish this off, too.  Because I can.   Everyone loves a pom pom, especially an orange one!


6 comments:

DrK said...

Shibui, from work, she says! that is very cool :) they are all gorgeous yarns, i havent tried the heritage but i saw something else knit in it recently and added to the list. Im not sure about the cowl, its always hard to imagine how things will work. what i do know if you suspect its wrong, it probably is!

Julie Rose said...

Oh my gosh, all of your projects are beautiful! Your green and grey cowl doesn't bother me personally, since I tend to prefer subtle color pairings, but I think the reason it might not be popping the way you hoped is because the two colors are very similar in value. Even though the colors are obviously different, the similar value creates a low contrast. One way to test whether two colors have a similar value is to take a photo of them together, then convert it to black and white. If the colors turn the same shade of grey and blend together, they probably will not pop in real life, either. Eek, I hope that was helpful and not just rambling!

<3 Julie Rose

2paw said...

Julie Rose is right. In quilting you do the 'squint' to see how all your fabrics line up. Or look through coloured cellophane, red I think?? Maybe a lighter grey and then use the green for the pop. I love the green and the cardigan. I shall bear the sleeves first advice in mind. I am knitting red socks, but in possum. I do have some of the Heritage and it is very nice to knit, mine is Christmas Green of course. That is an excellent hat and an orange pom-pom is the way to go!!!

Anonymous said...

yeah I agree with the aboves. Take a quick black and white picture with your phone to see the contrast between colours next time. I love the colours in the beanie with the splash of orange.

rebecca said...

I am with the mob on the colour value thing. But as soon as I saw the last pic, I didn't care about anything else. That hat is fabulous. The marle effect is working so well and here is a time where the heat from that red, which would have been almost intolerable as a solid, just rocks as an accent. The pom pom is the perfect touch, I hope it is BIG! Stunning work.

Rose Red said...

I love the Jumpsuit colour! Gorgeous. I agree with above comments re cowl - you know what I think it needs? A two row stripe of jumpsuit between the other two colours! Jumpsuit! Jumpsuit! Jumpsuit!