The Wonderful World of Bobbins, Intarsia Knitting

The current (new) project on the needles is the Grand Tour Waistcoat (pattern designed by Di Gilpin) from the book Folk Style, by Mags Kandis, Interweave Press, 2007.  After counting the finished yardage and looking through my library, the vest stood out and having knitted a gauge swatch I knew it was the perfect pattern for the yarn.  Digging through the handspan stash I found the dark brown yarn, although I know it's wool, the type is a mystery.  

The yarns are two-ply, z-spun and s-plied, approximately 9 WPI (wraps per inch).  The gauge worked well with a 4.5 mm/US 7 knitting needle for the heavy worsted to Aran weight yarns.  (I used The Standard Yarn Weight System Handy Chart from Spinderella's Fiber Mill.)

Mocha Dream roving to yarn

Mocha Dream is made up of  ⅓ camel down, ⅓ Romeldale, and ⅓ alpaca

The dark brown mystery wool will be a nice contrast color

Each section of color has a separate bobbin of yarn, making the back look like organized chaos

So far, so good with the knitting.  I love the rustic appearance of the knitted fabric and the dark brown stands out nicely from the background.  

The times they are a changin'

23.08.10  Trite, I know, but true.  Just like the weather and the seasons, the only thing constant is change.  The change for me is a new opportunity, or rather the revival of an old one!

As of today, I am no longer an employee of the shop.  Nothing bad, just a change for them and for me.  I took the time during the summer to spin and think, spin, knit, and think some more--leading me to the conclusion that I need to re-visit what I started in Texas.  I accomplished so much artistically in the three years we lived there.

I'll be teaching at a shop called Shepherd's Choice and it's in a great town by the Mississippi River.  I've known the owner for some time and she's quite the fiber artist.  I'm going to focus on advanced knitting, felting, and hopefully drop spindling and art yarn.  My brain's been busy with ideas swimming around and I'm excited about the possibilities!  Now I just need to see if others are inspired my enthusiasm to push themselves creatively!

I bought yarn for an intarsia project from the current issue of Interweave Knits.  I'm not doing a sweater initially.  That is difficult for me, as I LOVE sweaters!  The Spud & Chloe yarn is gorgeous--the colors are lush, it's soft, and it's superwash.

02.09.10  Ben is settled back at college.  I'm glad we were able to get him there early because today it's storming.  He has the room to himself for a few days, so he can get all set up before his roommate comes back.  The guys were headed to town for $5 all-you-can-eat pizza last night.

03.09.10  It's a glorious day in my world.  windy and cool.  It's cloudy, but that's fine.  Sweater weather today!  I have the door open and the wind sounds wonderful.  My sister and I always loved the sound of the wind on Pop's farm.  It blocks out the traffic noise today.  Nice!

I finished the hat and re-named it.  It was a bit too large for me (I knitted to gauge and followed the measurements in the pattern), so I put a toe into the frog pond and started the decreases after the last purl row.  Now it's just right.  I liked the tab facing the back, and layered a couple of buttons from my stash for the finishing touch!  The color and fuzziness remind me of an edelweiss flower.