Messin' with Multi's

For anyone who was worried about me, no, the Stash didn't get me. It's still ruling my existence, but I continue to work, eat, sleep, and even knit at times. I guess I'm just happy it doesn't demand access to the TV remote.

I've actually been struggling with lining up my next project. An exercise that should be one of the most fun parts of knitting took on something of a dark overtone this time around. Even though my multiple myeloma is in remission, it's pretty hard to forget. This time I looked at all of the projects I want to knit and tried not to think about whether I'll really have a chance to do the ones I put aside. So I ended up not feeling much like communicating about the whole experience.

I'm glad to be back. Playing with Fire's finished and waiting to be blocked. My next projects are on the needles. The big project waiting beyond those is on paper and in my computer. All of these projects have a common theme, (predictable given the composition of my stash), and that's that they all use multi color yarn. Unfortunately none of the concepts I'm playing with right now are Fair Isle, but I'm enjoying them just the same.

The project that's getting lots of attention at the moment is a Lace Leaf Scarf. Even though the pattern's source is Vogue Knitting, the source of my inspiration is this posting by Grumperina about a beloved gift from a friend. I never gave the scarf a second look in Vogue because they showed it knit with a very open gage. The pictures that Grumperina posted show a wonderful ripply effect and leaves that have much more body. Very cozy and inviting, at least to me. By strange coincidence, this same stitch pattern showed up at about the same time on Yarn Harlot as a pair of socks called "Embossed Leaf". (See Stephanie's Dec. 7 posting.) When you're hot, you're hot!

Yarn for the Lace Leaf Scarf is a Cashmere Koigu sold only at String in NYC, shades of red closing in on black in spots. It's not as soft as I'd usually expect from Cashmere, but somehow it has an extra cushiness that's unusual and appealing to both touch and eye. This yarn's really been talking to me, wanting to cuddle around my neck while I drive to work and Christmas shop. I'm sure I've stretched its patience by taking so long to find just the right pattern. (I've had it for some months now from a city trip with Susan.) I didn't buy enough to do the full lacy length called for in VK, but by knitting it on smaller needles, (US#3 instead of US#5), I've decreased the width. Estimating by the weight that went into one pattern round, I'm only going to be a few inches short in spite of having only two skeins instead of three.

The Cashmere Koigu skeins are the two on the right. Their current competitors for my attention are Blue Moon's RSC Raven in color Lenore, then two by Hand Maiden, Sea Silk in Sangria, and Mini Maiden in Amethyst. (Loopy's pictures of the Sea Silk don't show the precious-metal sheen of this amazing stuff.)
I'm very happy with the way this scarf is turning out and also with the loops-through-loops experience. I can't wait to wear the finished scarf, but once again don't want to finish!
I also mentioned that Playing with Fire is waiting to be blocked. That will probably happen this weekend along with blocking of the first cuff of the Summer RSC sock. The exciting finish of the Fire project is all tied up in the strange behavior of the insanely varied multi yarn. Blue Moon's Fire on the Mountain color has a dark band across the middle of the skein with rainbow colors all around it. In the collar of my sweater the dark band hit three times so that each round alternated the forward and return colors in the skein loop. This was the resulting effect.Isn't that wild?! Even the lighting bolt effect is perfect for a project named "Playing with Fire"! I just enjoyed everything about this silly project. Hope blocking goes well. Also hope I don't double in weight over Christmas so that I end up looking totally dumpy in it!!

Speaking of crazy pooling effects, I've begun the analysis of my amazing Fiesta Boomerang Surf yarn. It's been a while since I raved about how much I love this yarn. Right now I'll just say that while the rest of my stash has been banished to the floor of the Knit Pit, Surf continues to enjoy a privileged and reserved location on the sofa with me. Yes, all nine skeins. Even a swatch of this stuff reduces me to tears with its beauty. I wonder if I should buy enough to decorate my house…

As a token of my great love for Surf I've set up my PaintKnits program to analyze how the multi will behave. I will settle for nothing less than perfection on this project, (even though I'm sure this yarn could never be ugly in any form). Here are some of the fun poolings I've come up with based on pattern width and the start point in the color banding. These could be button bands or borders.
Check out these lovely patterns.
And this one's worth setting up a design around just to see if it really happens!

I'm deep into sketching my design for this sweater and can't wait to feel that Fiesta slipping through my fingers. We'll just have to see if I can exercise enough discipline to finish up the C & G cardigan first. (Not likely at all! Notice I don't even mention all those ends that need tucking on Pyramids!)

These are all fun and wonderful things to think about, (except for tucking those ends). Maybe I'll be smarter this time about lining projects up ready to go before I run out. Or maybe more time spent swimming in Surf is what my spirit needs. The future will tell.

Playing with Fire

Some weeks ago I described my "Big Knitting Problem", basically that I like to knit Fair Isle projects and like to buy multi-colored yarn. Playing with Fire is a sweater design I created as an attempt to merge these two opposing inclinations. The project has turned out to be such fun that I decided its story deserved to be told.

The inspiration was a finished knit displayed in a wonderful yarn shop in NYC called String. This gorgeous sweater set was knit from a single shaded Koigu color, but two skeins were slip-stitched together so that the second skein produced a subtle pattern of dots across the fabric. I drooled a puddle on the store floor.

As I tried to mentally prepare for my stem cell transplant this past May one distraction was to set up a cheerful, easy project that I could work on in the hospital. I expected to have two weeks to knit til my fingers bled. I quickly decided that I wanted to experiment with a Fair Isle design that combined a multi with itself. With hardly any conscious manipulation my mouse clicked me over to the Blue Moon Fiber Arts website. Really, does anyone else have such an amazing selection of colors? I agonized over which multi I would go with, but in the end it was no contest. I was drawn to the vibrant colors of Fire on the Mountain. I ordered a huge pile, (10 skeins), in Heavyweight.

Then the tragedy. The yarn wasn't in stock, at least not in the truckload quantity that I'd ordered. It would have to be dyed. There was no way to get it in time for my hospital stay. I was disappointed, but picked up the next project on my list, the Comings & Goings Cardigan. That was a nice big gage and had some Fair Isle. I was content to wait. Sometimes it's just nice to be looking forward to getting a package.

It all worked out in the end. I was not up to knitting during my hospital stay anyways. I had the yarn delivered to my parents' house, where I was to spend a week recuperating before resuming a life filled with endlessly grueling homeowner tasks. It was a fun change of pace to share the dramatic box opening, releasing a rainbow of color into my parents' living room.

I swatched, (yes, really I swatched!), the dot pattern from String, one skein as a background, the other skein jumping in for a single stitch every third stitch on each fourth row. What was subtle and exciting in the shaded reds of Strings' sample garment completely disappeared in the mad colors of Fire on the Mountain. It wasn't going to work. I was in uncharted territory.

How could I best combine two busy skeins so that the viewer would see right away that there were two overlaid color motifs? The frantic color changes would only support larger areas so that each skein could exert its identity even while shifting shades. I decided on vertical stripes, but felt some sadness for the simplicity of the idea. That's how the stripes ended up with varying widths.

Originally my stripes alternated descending and ascending number sequences like this: 5 1 4 2 3 3 2 4 1 5, but the 2 3 3 2 area got very murky with the skeins each losing their identity. The winning swatch ended up being 5 1 4 2 3 2 4 1 5 1, presenting distinct pattern areas of wide stripes separated by a one stitch boundary, plus a 2 3 2 stripe that acts as its own unified design element. This arrangement had the added benefit that one skein would be used faster than the other, guarantying that the two skeins would shift colors at different rates across the fabric.

I was finally ready to forge ahead. The project even had a name now. All of my swatching led me to call it "Playing with Fire". (Note to self: Take pictures of failed swatches and project approaches... So much more interesting than describing them!) Here's the winning combination:

The sweater construction was selected for simplicity, a drop shoulder design whose boxy outline would allow the vertical stripes maximum free roam. I don't mind purling in Fair Isle so even though I briefly considered steeks, that idea was quickly rejected. (Steeks terrify me.) I measured my favorite bulky sweaters and chose dimensions to result in a slightly oversize fit without going as far as a complete frump out.
You can see from the picture that Playing with Fire is still a work in process. This is the first project that I've ever actually dreaded finishing. It's so much fun to work on! I realize that sometimes while I'm knitting I have this manic smile on my face as I watch the insane colors combine and recombine themselves. The wool is soft to the hand, but no-nonsense as far as workability. It even supports several cycles of ripping without fluffing out. I'm hoping that the ripples in the 2 3 2 stripes will block out, but like the effect enough to happily accept it if they don't.

For those interested in the technical details, I'm knitting on a single US#7 long circular for the whole thing, magic looping the sleeves. Gage is around 6 sts per inch, and that's giving me a fabric that's a little on the tight side. I'm using the Knitpicks Options needles. Here's Susan's favorite view... the inside!
I am very close to finishing the C & G Cardigan, but I think Playing with Fire's going to breeze past it. There's no doubt in my mind that I'll be able to wear it to the Rocking Sock Club Camp this coming April and collect all of the compliments that I expect on my lunatic creation, (per the theory presented in my previous post). I suspect that if I'd chosen a more restrained color the completed sweater would have more dignity, but I like this design specifically because regardless of color selection, it will always proudly announce itself as a hand knit.