Happy Monday everyone and thanks for all the great comments on the new issue of Knitcircus! Lots of love for that gorgeous Alcea shawlette… I’m going to be adding that to my queue too. Here are the winners of the Knitcircus giveaway:
Year Subscription: Minmenk
Pattern Collection: Dee
Pattern Collection: CrazyVet
We’ll get your pattern PDFs sent out to you as soon as we can!
Anne, the super helpful owner of [She Ewe Knits](http://www.sheeweknits.com/), was nice enough to send me a small skein of Jamieson’s Soft Shetland to try out… I love this yarn! — it seems a little scratchy and hard at first, but then I swatched it up with the Na Craga swatch pattern, washed it and blocked it. The yarn blooms a little and softens up nicely while still being substantial. Here’s my little swatch:
Now, the only thing is picking a colour! Anne says that Jamieson is coming out with new colours for ["Shetland Heather"](http://www.sheeweknits.com/shetland%20heather.htm) (the new name for Soft Shetland) in the Fall, so I might wait until then to order the yarn. In the meantime, I’m going to order some BWA yarns for myself!
Well, the happy bride and groom left for Italy yesterday… two weeks in Italy, ahhhh…. *snap* …oh, yes, back to reality. Thanks for everybody’s beautiful and kind comments about the wedding photos!!!
It’s time for new projects. The two one-skein wonders are blocking, I’m wearing my finished Soleil, the DH’s second sock is almost done and I’m *almost* finished the lilac Paisley Lace Shawl! About 10 rounds to go — but since each round is at least 500 stitches, that will take me approximately… forever…
So! What’s in the knitting bag today? Dale Baby Ull! For the [Baby Norgi](http://knitty.com/ISSUEspring03/PATTbabynorgi.html) sweater from Knitty.com. Armed with my new 2mm and 3mm Addi’s, steeking, *here I come!*
Oh, of course, this is just practice for a steeked sweater for me. I won a copy of Alice Starmore’s Tudor Roses on Ebay and am planning to knit something out of that next — I didn’t see any fair isle projects I liked in her Celtic Collection book, although I love the cabled Cromarty sweater…
In the meantime, I’m picking yarns for St. Brigid (from Starmore’s Aran Knitting, also out of print)… Here’s the Blackwater Abbey yarn sample card I just received… I’m considering either Pink Heather or Iris, so I ordered a couple 1oz skeins to test drive:
Now that I think of it, is it *wrong* to knit a Scottish designer’s sweater in Irish yarn?
Anyway, I also finally got up the courage to start spinning the Ashland Bay merino that I bought a few weeks ago. It’s so soft and smooth to spin! I love it! I’m spinning this thin for a laceweight 2-ply that I’ll use for a shawl. Maybe another Flower Basket Shawl or maybe the Meadow Flowers Shawl from the Knitters’ Stash book:
It’s been a crappy week — too much work, too little sleep, being snarky enough with clients that they actually notice (oops). Ah, you know. Here’s the shrug I’m rushing to finish… it’s in Rowan Summer Tweed:
And here’s proof that I’m still knitting the Manly Sweater. Here’s the finished front! Two sleeves to go.
So in my search for an appropriate Scottish Heather yarn sub, I’m going to try to get my hands on a sample of Jamieson’s Soft Shetland (soon to be called Shetland Heather Aran). Anne at She Ewe Knits is sending me a sample card and some yarn for me to test drive. I found the Simply Shetland site and have been considering these colours:
Yes, that’s right. In my current obsession with Starmore and that darned “Aran Knitting” book, I’ve glommed onto the idea of knitting a St. Brigid for myself. Funny enough, I’m actually ok with this aran sweater being oversized. What I’m _not_ ok with is a huge fair isle sweater. I don’t want to put myself through [this kind of stress](http://onemorerow.blogdrive.com/archive/19.html).
Yes, I’ve had my TKGA Master Knitter 1 instructions for about five or six months now… I’ve knit several sets of swatches, but in all different yarns and with all different needles. Last week, I decided enough dithering, enough horsing around — May will be the month I submit my stuff — just get it out of here! So starting last Thursday night, I restarted all 16 swatches. And here we are: two swatches to go.
I have swatch #15 and #16 left to do. Swatch 15 is a cable of your choice and I think my choice will be a ["staghorn" cable](http://swim.typepad.com/swim/staghorn_cable_cardigan/). Swatch 16 is a two-colour swatch that demonstrates how brilliantly you can join colours — at the side and mid-row. Ooh…exciting.
Originally, I wanted to submit the perfect package so that there wouldn’t be any re-submits to do. But now I figure, I’ll just get it out and see what happens. If I have to re-knit some swatches, whatever…it’s a learning process.
Swatches and questions should be done tonight! I still have the write up the blocking report too…maybe by the end of this week.
Driven by an obsessive, passionate and often tumultuous relationship with colour, Felicia Lo is the owner of SweetGeorgia Yarns, an artisan yarn company that makes exquisite and luxurious hand-dyed yarns for knitting and fibres for spinning. She writes about all things knitting, spinning, dyeing, and weaving here at sweetgeorgia.
SweetGeorgia Yarns ::: Studio
110-408 East Kent Avenue South,
Vancouver, BC V5X 2X7
between Main and Fraser
We've recently moved and expanded our production dye studio where we dye all our yarns and fibres. It's a treat to see. Knitters and spinners are welcome to get a glimpse into the world of hand-dyed yarn and experience a slice of the sweet life.
We're open to the public by appointment. Just give us a call!
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