Honeycomb

How much wool does it take to make a Honeycomb? (A fitted, scoop necked vest from Knitty Spring 2008 in a size 34? (I'm not that small - the pattern calls for quite a bit of negative ease.)

The pile pictured above is 1125 yards of Fibranatura Mermaid - part of my haul from the Purple Purl and 996 yards of which will be needed for the vest. Its a beautiful blend - 42%cotton/35%Superwash Merino/12% Silk/11% Seacell. One of the plies (I'm assuming the one with the silk) has a bit of silvery sheen to it.

The specified yarn for the pattern is a wool and silk blend with a slight tonal variation between the plies so I thought another blend with similar shading would be a good substitute. On my monitor the colour in the photos is very true. Its called "Red Hot" Col.#40602. but its more of a dark pink than a red. I already own a vest with similar lines and fit so I feel pretty confident about the design suiting me (One of my perennial issues). The colour looks wonderfully rich beside dark denim, chocolate brown, navy and grey so it should go with pretty much everything. I think it'll be a great addition to my fall and winter wardrobe.

I'm always angst ridden about things that don't look right but which my mathematical calculations say must be right. (My Grade 12 math teacher, asked me to please never "inflict" myself on another math teacher again. At the time I heartily agreed but his words always haunt me whenever I'm struggling to make practical sense out of numbers - I have a hard time believing I can ever be correct.) But one of the things I'm trying to do with my knitting these days is use and trust numbers more. Numbers seem to the be the magical key to success (The whole connection between gauge, size and fit) and I'm keen to get me some of that success with garments for myself after two disastrous failures in a row.

And why am I so concerned with fall and winter when summer has barely arrived here in southern Ontario? I'm not really, in fact the other vest for which I bought yarn at the Purple Purl last week is 100% cotton and I started that over the weekend (details tomorrow). It only calls for 7 much smaller balls - another reason I'm questioning this quantity but its knit in stockinette so probably doesn't equate at all. And all the calculations were double checked at the store so I'll just have to wait until I swatch to get some early insight into how in the world a "Honeycomb" can hide so much wool!

The Call of the Wild (froggies)

Over the weekend, progress was made on Imprint while sitting on the screened porch overlooking the lake and on the dock enjoying the spectacular weather. In both these locations I was able to hear the sound of frogs chirping in the little marshy area across the bay. In the end it left me inspired to take the helix socks for a visit to my own personal frog pond. They were fun to knit and I got the hang of the technique. It is fun to watch the stripes evolve and revolve but generally speaking I didn't like the teeny little stripes. On top of that the Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino is soft and squishy and luxurious while the thin stripes seemed miserly and uptight. When I was working on them, the stripes didn't make me look forward to being curled up by the fire next winter or sitting in bed knitting during the evenings of the dark months of the year. Yet that is how I intended to wear these socks. The "mood" I was going for was pure relaxed comfort. That means they needed to look as comfy as they felt.

That old recurring struggle to find patterns I want to wear and that suit me and that are also entertaining to knit reared its ugly little head again.

The helix socks were entertaining and nothing more. Not enough. And those little froggies across the way just kept pushing me to do something about it. So I ripped. They're gone from my knitting basket and from my list of works in progress.

The four balls of Baby Cashmerino of course stay in the stash awaiting their ideal pattern mate. I'll have to think about that....hey what about Log Cabin Socks with the yarn held double... or how about Slippery Socks or....this could take a while...something else to think about as I finish up Imprint.

Happy Canada Day!

Happy Birthday to everyone in Canada! Today we turn 141 years old as a country.

We enjoyed a very long weekend amid the gorgeous trees, water and rocks of the area known as the "Near North". We had rain and sun and mosquitos in their swarms. We swam and sat on the dock. We watched fireflies and lightening, took the kids water skiing and wake boarding and of course I did a bit of knitting too! Now we're back to our incredibly multicultural city and I must admit my patriotism is running high.

To celebrate this red and white day on the blog I thought I'd present a little red knitting that was a very thoughtful gift from a friend I taught to knit this past winter and spring.

I adore the colour red above all others in the spectrum. The sight of it literally makes me feel good so when my friend brought this gorgeous box to the final coffee gathering of the school year last week I couldn't take my eyes off it!
Then I learned it was for me and saw that it contained more red goodness! I can't tell you how thrilled I was. I absolutely do not deserve such a gorgeous gift for sitting with her and talking about knitting!

It was of course most enjoyable teaching her to cast on, to knit and purl, introduce her to a few helpful spots on line then to the wonderful ladies at my primary LYS. Look at what she made for me! The photo below is in focus - its just the halo on this knitted fabric is so incredible - the whole thing looks blurry even in real life!

This beautiful scarf is knit in the softest baby alpaca yarn I have ever felt. The ribbing makes it extra squishy. It will be soooo warm!The accent stripes are a blend of alpaca and silk and they contain every fiery colour imaginable from pink through orange to crimson.

Given the elemental nature of my connection to red, she couldn't have made me anything more thoughtful or fitting or that would thrill me more than this beautiful, beautiful scarf.

I feel lucky to be a Canadian today and lucky to have such a thoughtful (new to knitting) friend!