Summer, and the blogging is...well...intermittent at best. However, I have been knitting, so here's an update.
First, a short review of the relevant stash. At the Sheep and Wool festival last month, I concentrated on yarns for making some summer tops. I got some organic cotton, some mercerized cotton, and some laceweight Noro rayon blend. That last is not so summery, as it is blended with some fuzzy fibers. But my limited experience with Noro has been great, so I wanted to try it. The day before Sheep and Wool I also took my visitors up to the Mannings in PA, where I got some linen/cotton blend yarn. That day we also went by Chicory Lane Farm and I got about 2 lbs. of sport weight Jacob yarn from my friend who owns the farm. Not summery, but fun.
Then I started knitting swatches, washing them to see what would happen, and looking at patterns. Here's the current state of affairs:
The organic cotton washed beautifully, much to my surprise, not shrinking at all. I then washed the swatch again and threw it in the dryer, where it shrank a little, but still looked good. It is a little rope-y in feel, the way cotton usually is to me, but acceptable for a summer top. I have started a top-down raglan sleeve pullover with short sleeves and a cable pattern down the front. It's in a book called Brave New Knits, which I got from the library and like a lot. The yarn is a medium beige, ostensibly its natural color due to some scientific genetic manipulation. A little creepy, but interesting. I have some sky blue, beige, and brown striped denim in my fabric stash which I think will make a good skirt to go with the top. I think the vertical cables will complement the stripes in the denim. I'm really happy about this project.
The mercerized cotton was the surprise of the bunch. On the cone, it seemed kind of rope-y and didn't look like anything special. I mainly bought it because it was cotton and the price was so good. Once I knitted it up, thought, it produced a fabric with a luscious drape, amazing stitch definition, and minimal shrinkage. Definitely a star player. I don't have a definite pattern for it yet, but the fabric stash turned up a cute black denim with dragonflies in blue and a rosy pink printed on it. The pink matches exactly the color of the cotton yarn. So again, I'm dreaming of a skirt and top combo.
The linen/cotton blend also worked up well, nothing remarkable but very respectable, with good washability. This project is the most vague. No definite pattern, no definite garment to go with it. One intriguing possibility is a pink, brown, and grey Art Deco print cotton velvet. Maybe a jacket to go with the knitted top. Reply hazy, try again later.
The Noro has me the most puzzled. It knitted up easily, shrunk when washed as you might expect, and produced a fabric that intrigues me. I knitted the swatch on size 0 needles, so it is fine gauge and fuzzy. I decided to make something that would not be washable, so not a top. I hate dry cleaning items too often. Since it's lace weight, I looked through my shawl patterns. I found a cute little number that's basically a poncho-type pullover shawl (called "mananita magic", in the Best of Knitters Magazine Shawls and Scarves book which Blonde Knitter and I both have). I have the first few inches knitted, but I'm very uncertain about it. The yarn is that long repeat variegation that Noro is known for, and it is making a horizontally striped lacy poncho. I'm not sure it's the look I was hoping for. I am thinking of frogging it and trying a serape style wrap instead. Maybe knit side to side, to get really long rows and less of a striped effect, and using the small needles in a plain stockinette stitch to get a fabric like the swatch.
The Jacob sport weight is for an Aran sweater for my mom. She found a pattern at Sheep and Wool which has a "wishbone" pattern element which I hadn't seen before. It's a fun one to knit. I made a couple of swatches on different size needles. When I washed them, they didn't shrink much, just a little in the length, and the yarn fluffed up and looked much more like a light worsted than a sport weight. I think it will make a nice Aran sweater. I think I have decided on a needle size. One final swatch with the right size needles, then whatever fiddling the pattern might need to fit my exact gauge, then I can start. I will probably leave it for later in the summer, though. It's not the type of garment that will be comfortable to knit in the summer heat once it gets too large, so I'd like it to be September by the time it gets well under way.
That's the news from the eastern front, happy knitting, all!
