by Ivete Tecedor on June 27, 2011
in Koigu, Yarn
This photo’s certainly over-exposed but I think it looks kind of cool that way so I’m using it! Hope you don’t mind =)
On Friday night the idea for this design sprung into my head fully-formed. That rarely happens, believe me . . . most of my designs take tons of swatching, sketching and trial and error before they’re finished conceptually. But every once in a while something like this happens, and those designs have generally turned out to be the most successful and popular (see the Runner’s Watchcap and the Soho wrap for examples!). So I had to cast on ASAP. It still took me a while to settle on a color palette, and in truth I actually made 3 palettes and set them aside for later (more on that when I publish this), but after weighing and winding up the yarn, I was off like a rocket!
What you see above is the almost-completed scarf, all of which was knit over the last 2 days. And my hands don’t even hurt!
Koigu in garter stitch is such a wonder . . . I love how the bumps accentuate the color changes and how no section is at all like any other section! Of course I’m maximizing that effect by shading colors in an out of eachother, which is one of my favorite techniques to use with Koigu. If you look closely at the photo above you can see that the colors fade into eachother seamlessly. So so pretty, I can’t get enough. I can already tell that I won’t be satiated by making just the one sample scarf for photography, I’m going to end up with at least two of these scarves for myself for sure . . .
There are no words!
This fabulously 80′s colorway is 107B, dye lot 6, and I cannot wait to knit it up into a new pair of elbow-length armwarmers. I initially planned to knit up the same pattern from The Purl Stitch to replace my previous set, but now I’m planning to design something incorporating slipped stitched to play up the colors in handpainted yarns. While I think the original gauntlets are quite gorgeous, I think the shape of armwarmers is perfect for a little stitchwork to better show off the yarn! And with yarn this gorgeous, showing it off is all I really care about . . .
And speaking of Koigu, my solid colored Cecil socks are progressing nicely. Here’s how the first foot looked a few days ago:
I’ve since finished it and am about half-way done with its mate, just picked up stitches for the gusset and am about to start the foot. I just noticed that this semi-solid Koigu KPM color (color 2171, dye lot 113) looks a lot like stonewashed jeans! Kind of funny to think about knitting with washed out jeans . . .
Design-wise, I am finalizing a submission to IK and hope to have it in the mail by Wednesday this week. I intended to submit to Twist (btw, have you seen the new issue? It’s pretty awesome!) but the design I had in mind just didn’t work out when I started to swatch it, it got way too complicated way too quickly. It seems to be the case with many of my ideas, either it’s a simple, straightforward idea that works right away, or it’s a complicated design with too much going on at once. I wish there were more ideas that fell into a happy medium between the extremes!
It’s a scorcher of a day today in NYC so we’re staying indoors with the A/C on and a puppy between us on the couch. Bodes well for knitting productivity!
One of my latest acquisitions is 2 skeins of the new Spud & Chloe Fine, which is sort of like sock yarn but is an 80/20 blend of wool/silk, so to me seems destined for shawldom. The color palette in all their yarns is quite beautiful, full of bright clear colors that would make great kid’s items . . . but for my taste the color palette is a bit boring. I wish there were more “off” colors, and if the people at the LYS are right, more colors are coming in shortly. I can’t wait to see them!
The yarn itself is quite nice, I started swatching with it already and it’s got a great hand and incredible stitch definition. I think this one’s going to be a quick favorite!
I took Thursday & Friday off last week so I could hang with my sister and dad who were in town . . . after they’d both left on Friday I took the opportunity to go back to my old store, String! I pretty much never get to go there because it’s in a neighborhood I’m almost never in, so it was nice to be able to make a dedicated trip to the East Side to catch up a bit and check out the new yarns. Of course I couldn’t leave empty-handed now, could I??
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That’s right, I do sometimes knit other things! Really!
I’ve been meaning to knit up my Cecil sock pattern in a solid color for, like, a year. I was even pretty sure that I wanted to use this grayish-blue color of Koigu for them, but somehow they never rose to the top of the to-do list. Now that my knitting mojo seems to be back in full force (finally!) and I’ve knit more over the last few weeks than I have in the previous few months, I thought it would be good to start a portable project to knit on my commute or in stolen moments waiting in lines. As I look through my Ravelry notebook, I see I haven’t finished a pair of socks since February . . . gotta change that, stat!
I cast on for this sock on Saturday morning and worked on it while catching up on my DVR. A few hours later I’d turned the heel! I sometimes forget how quickly sock knitting goes when you work on a sock for long stretches at a time! Usually my socks only get knit on the subway or in the line at the bank, so they seem to take forever to get done . . .
These probably won’t get done that quickly, though, because I already started something else and brought that project to work on during my commute today. I’m using this cheerful yarn:
Isn’t it so sunny and happy? I’m making a quick present for my sister with this gorgeous Artyarns Supermerino 6 in color 2278, and I need to have it done by next week when she’ll be on the East Coast for a quick visit . . . I’m already more than half-way done after just one day, so I should be able to meet my deadline!
by Ivete Tecedor on July 10, 2009
in Koigu, Yarn
Folks, I think my Koigu problem is only getting worse, not better. Here’s the batch I couldn’t say no to yesterday, and I’m almost 100% sure that one of these colors is already in my stash. And I thought of that before I bought it, and bought it anyway. They’re just so pretty!
I’m definitely making a shawlette for me out of the 410 (the purplish red color on the bottom left), maybe my next design will use this color. It’s a perfect blend for me, dark enough to not wash me out and colorful enough to not be boring to knit with! And as a bonus, it seems to photograph well, which is something I so struggle with when it comes to knitting designs in colors I want to wear. Seems like a winner all around! And yes, that’s the one I’m pretty sure I already own . . .
I’m going to a wedding in Vermont this weekend so that’ll be like 10 hours of car knitting roundtrip, most of it with daylight . . . gotta plan what I’m bringing to knit so I don’t end up bored and/or running out! That would be just awful.
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