Improving Koigu?
See that ball of Koigu? It's a color that just came in the store this week, and I LOOOOOVE it. In fact, I love it so much I bought several skeins and left them lying around the house, and every once in a while I pass one and I feel a little shiver. It's heartbreakingly beautiful. I think it's my favorite color ever (and let's take that with the grain of salt it deserves, seeing as I bought Koigu in 5 colors this week alone).
But you see that ball of purple laceweight next to the Koigu? That's Karabella's Lace Cashmere, which is also beautiful. And when you combine these two lovelies, you get perhaps the most amazing thing I've ever knit with:
The photo probably doesn't do it justice, but knit on size 6 needles at 5 sts/inch, the Koigu held together with the cashmere is quite literally to die for amazing. I can't stop petting it, looking at it, smelling it (well, maybe not smelling it, as the Koigu has that distinct vinegar smell common to handpainted yarns and that does get a little old after a few sniffs). I LOVE it. I may never knit with anything else ever again.
What am I making? Elbow-length gloves. I already bought Koigu and cashmere for a second set. And am making a 3rd set as a Christmas present for someone. I spent a large part of today swatching Koigu held together with various cashmeres, and even sold the combo to two knitters, both of whom will be making elbow-length mittens. Hey, you gotta share the wealth, you know? Even I can't keep all the Koigu to myself. . .
I went all the way to Stitches and all I got
was more KOIGU! (are you surprised?)
There are some colors here that I'd never seen before! These came from 4 different vendors, I walked into each booth saying, "I really don't need to buy anything" and yet, somehow, spent more than twice what I had planned on spending!
The reason Stitches was totally worth it for me this year is not merchandise-related: I got to meet the Harlot and Cassandra! They even complimented me on Tramonto, and we walked around some booths together petting yarn. They're both really funny and friendly people, I felt like I'd known them my whole life after only a minute in their company! Stephanie's new book had completely sold out of the show by the time I found her, but she was signing copies of the first one. People kept coming up to her and she was always friendly and gracious -- one woman walked up and said, "I laughed so hard last night I snorted!" Congratulations on your success Stephanie! And nice to meet you both! (no pictures b/c they told us they were confiscating cameras. I think they were trying to stop Marilyn!)
Aside from the great company, I enjoyed petting lots of yarns and seeing lots of nice people. I wore my shawl and got lots of compliments, gave out the Chiagu name and URL, and made other business contacts.
I also bought this book, which I'd never heard of before:
This is the perfect book for me, I can't believe I didn't know it existed! It shows pictures of knitwear from runway shows, everything from thin machine knits like the dress on the cover to big chunky pullovers that could have been handknit. I've only had time to flip through it and look at the pictures so far, but there's lots of writing in the book, too. It talks about the history of knits, the construction and development, and even has a whole section towards the back that is art kniting, with installations and necklaces and furniture. It also identifies all the designers and where each piece came from -- I can see that I'll need to look up those designers online so I can see the full collections!
This is of course not a pattern book, but rather an idea and history book. I'd recommend it to anyone who loves fashion and likes to flip through books looking for inspiration. And the knee socks on the back cover are not to be missed!
Another New Pattern: Tramonto!
Introducing the latest Chiagu pattern, my new shawl pattern Tramonto! This is my oversize Koigu shawl with the colors arranged like a sunset. "Tramonto" means sunset in Italian, actually. (I know, not that creative, huh?!) This shawl uses 12 colors of Koigu, 14 skeins total, on a size 5 needle.
I took a bunch of pictures of it so you can see lots of angles, click below to see them! (may load slowly depending on your connection)
You can really see the color progressions in these shots. I used some
really beautiful colors in this project, it's the perfect project for
when you just can't pick one color!
This shot shows how long the shawl is (ignore the power cables, please!). It's 80" long so it makes a great wrap.
And here's a closeup of the stitch pattern, which also shows some of the color progressions beautifully. The lace pattern is very challenging but it was fun to watch it emerge.
Cuz I need more yarn . . .
What's that you say? Of course I need more yarn? Really? Why didn't you say so earlier?
Well, truth is, you didn't need to. Meet my latest stash acquisitions:
That's the new Rowan mag, but more importantly, that's roughly 23 skeins of Koigu. . . the ones on the left will be my next shawl project, the ones on the right were bought cuz I just had to have them. I find that if I don't buy those skeins that really speak to me when I see them, that a few months (well, sometimes days or years) later I find I really need them, and of course can't find them. So now I just buy them on the spot. There's simply no chance that I won't use them, at least eventually! And since only 22 skeins ever look alike . . .
So those 13 skeins on the left? I'm going to make something that shades from dark, to light, to dark, back to light, and ends in dark. It'll be some sort of shrug-like thing, similar to Teva Durham's piece in the new book, Wrap Style (but in thin lace, with tight, fitted sleeves so as to avoid the sausage arms look of her version). I've already swatched and settled on a lace pattern, see?
This is out of one of my Japanese stitch pattern books, I wanted something that looks like stockinette but has lace in it (so I won't die of boredom before I finish it). Oh, and that's a lovely color of Koigu, don't you think? It's color P416, and yes, I bought it just cuz it's beautiful. It will not go into this shawl project. I like to swatch with a color I won't be using. Why? So I can play with more colors!
Do we see a trend from yesterday's post to today's?
Well, it doesn't stop there.
Look what else I got:
That's right, more colors! This is my almost complete set of Donegal Tweed, to become the Map of the World blanket. I had already bought the colors on the right half of this picture, and then last week I picked up the rest. Now I'm only short 3 skeins of magenta, and then I'm set to start!
This is set to be my next opus, and I'm sure it'll take me a while to knit. It'll also take me a while before I start, as I am going to pre-wash all the skeins to soften it up before I start. The yarn is lovely and wooly, but my hands don't like knitting with yarn that has little give and is "hard." Washing the skeins softens them up, and should (theoretically) allow me to knit more of this with less pain. I washed one skein already to test it out, but haven't yet knit the swatch. Will keep posting progress on this, and you can check by clicking on the "Map of the World" category, now that I've figured out how to do multiple categories in a post! =)
Up next: The stripes raglan is done except for the finishing, should be able to model it for you all tomorrow!
My first Chiagu Pattern: Missy!
Even though this is the most recent project I've finished, I got it completely written and sized first, so up it goes on Chiagu! This is the first full-fledged sweater project at Chiagu, so it's in the "big" category, selling for $5.00. I'm proud to finally have one of my own patterns up, after successfully selling other's patterns for so long. (I do love selling other's patterns, too, so if you have submissions, send them along!)
This cropped cardigan features a diagonal buttonband, similar to a kimono closure. The sweater is fulled to give it a heathery texture, and also to keep it from stretching (that way it'll stay cropped!).
What yarn did I use for this? Why, my favorite yarn ever. Koigu. (like I had to tell you that!)
I held one strand of Aurora 4 and one strand of Koigu together to get this look. I call it "stretching the Koigu," and already have another project in mind with the same fabric. Here are pictures of the swatches, pre and post fulling:
This is before fulling
This is after fulling
(it's not really tighter, there are more stitches visible in this swatch)The stitch gauge doesn't change at all, but the row gauge gets tighter. The fabric goes from being drapey and fluid to being more solid and felt-like, without being stiff. The only way to get this fabric is to use yarns like fine and extrafine merinos, because they won't felt on you but do change in texture enough to give you a different fabric.
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New York had a collective moment of silence this morning. I am spending the day working on my patterns and website, reflecting on what happened the year I was a senior in college. I feel that spending the day creating, and working to expand my business, is a way to honor those who died that day. What the terrorists want most is for us to lose our way of live, to live in constant fear and paralized.
I refuse to give them that.
