Yarn of the Month Club update

I’m still getting the four samples every month. For the most part, I like the vast majority of them. It’s fun to sit and just knit what is basically a swatch of whatever yarns are sent that month. I cast on 20 stitches and see how far the sample takes me.

I thought I’d show you some of my favorites, and few that haven’t really grabbed me. This is the one I’m working on right now:

Yukon by Pagewood Farms

Sorry for the blurry photo. It’s Yukon by Pagewood Farms. I think this would make a great sock. It’s 70% merino, 20% bamboo, and 10% nylon. I’m knitting it on size 2 needles. The colorway is Misty.

This next one is Sitar by Nashua Handknits. It’s 51% wool, 49% acrylic. You can see the varying widths of the yarn. The colors are pretty amazing too. For some reason it makes me think of my paternal grandmother. I think she had a hat that was this colorful. Would’ve made a great 1980s sweater. Are the 80s back in yet or did I miss its revival?

Sitar by Nashua Handknits

This next one reminded me of some kind of skin — elephant or something. It’s kind of cool. Very textured, and the colors are variations on gray. It’s 100% silk. I don’t usually care for sillk, but this was intriguing. If you’re looking to make a stuffed elephant for somebody small, I recommend this. It would also make a cool sweater, but it’d be kind of rough. Not itchy, exactly. Almost papery rough.

Tsumugi Silk Combo (A-111) by Hasu

Haven’t done anything with this next one, as it just came in the July package. But it has great colors, it’s shiny, and I’m looking forward to trying it. It’s Bamboo by SWTC — 100% bamboo yarn.

Bamboo by SWTC

The next one is Matsuri by Noro. It’s mostly cotton (87%) and a little wool (13%). It’s springy, the colors are bright, and the yarn seems to be composed of a chain stitch.

Matsuri by Noro

Here’s Camelino by Knit One Crochet Too. It’s 90% merino, 10% camel. The color is actually a little more gray than it’s showing. A very nice uniform yarn to knit with.

Camelino by Knit One Crochet Too

Ordinarily my hands aren’t too crazy about lace weight yarn. But the rich color of this one (it’s called Lupine) attracted me, and I had fun with it. It was knit on size 2 needles. This is called Lace Weight Silk & Wool by Nature’s Palette, and it’s 70% wool, 30% silk.

Lace weight Silk & Wool by Nature's Palette

Samp’a by Mirasol (in red) was a fun yarn. Can you tell I get bored with straight stockinette stitch? Samp’a is an organic cotton, springy, and very light. It’d make a cute summer sweater for a kid or an adult.

Samp'a by Mirasol

Purelife by Rowan (in yellow, below) is also an organic cotton, and springy. I didn’t care for the color too much, it’s a dull yellow. But the yarn itself was fun to work with.

Purelife by Rowan

Here’s one I didn’t really care for, the blanched yarn below. It’s Manipur by Karabella Yarns. I know, everybody else probably likes it, but I just couldn’t get into this one. I did knit about half of it, but then ripped it out because it was about as elegant as knitting with strips of bandages. I just didn’t care for how it came together. It is 100% silk.

Manipur by Karabella Yarns

Wool/Stainless Steel by Habu (the dark mess below) didn’t get a fair shake right off the bat. It proceeded to turn into a big rat’s nest before I could even get it wound into a ball, and so I have just left it as a rat’s nest. If it’s not going to cooperate enough to be wound into a ball, screw it. The “variable gauge/strander” warning should’ve been warning enough to me not to even open the baggie. It’s about the thickness of sewing thread, and yes, you can tell it’s got stainless steel in it.

Wool/Stainless Steel by Habu

One more, then I’ll go back to the ones I did like. This one is Brushed Suri by Blue Sky Alpacas. I haven’t actually tried this one. I have taken it out of the baggie, but haven’t gotten any further than that. It’s beautiful — a wispy off-white. I am going to try it, it just looks like another opportunity for a snarl. I’ll let you know how it works out. It could turn out to be a favorite, but for now I’m reserving judgment.

Brushed Suri by Blue Sky Alpacas

This multicolored yarn is Bamboo Splay by Wisdom Yarns. It’s 100% bamboo, and it was great fun to knit with. It’s a slick, shimmery ribbon yarn. Great colors, almost military. It would be fun to make something dressy for summer — an evening sweater, perhaps.

Bamboo Splash by Wisdom Yarns

This Rialto by Debbie Bliss (dark brown yarn, below), would definitely make a cool dressy summer sweater. It’s a ribbon yarn also, a little thicker than the Bamboo Splash, and it has a metallic gold thread running through it. Great colors, fun to work with.

Rialto by Debbie Bliss

This is a new one also.  Panda Silk by Crystal Palace Yarns. It’s very shiny, and great variations of turquoises in the colorway. It’s 52% bamboo, 43% superwash merino, and 5% combed silk. I would say you can’t even tell the merino is in there. The bamboo and silk dominate. I’m looking forward to this one.

Panda Silk by Crystal Palace Yarns

Pure Cotton by Debbie Bliss is a beautiful yellow cotton yarn. Another winner for a light summery sweater. It’s springy, cottony, and I enjoyed knitting with this.

Pure Cotton by Debbie Bliss

The Silkience yarn below isn’t a color I would normally go for, a dark salmon. But this 41% cotton, 39% modal, 12% silk, 8% rayon yarn is seductive. It’s shimmery, and easy to work with, although it kept tightening on me. A little slick, I guess. But I still liked it. It would make a great dressy summer shell sweater.

Silkience by Ella Rae

Last one. This is Pure Wool DK by Rowan in Pomegranate. What a great name for a color. I really liked this yarn. I bought some to make a winter hat. It’s 100% wool, as you would guess from the name. Just a gorgeous color, and should make a nice warm hat for me for next winter, if I get it done.

Pure Wool DK by Rowan

Hope you enjoyed the walk through the Yarn of the Month Club. More to come.

Tangerine and Spidey Update

I may have the summer blahs, and we aren’t even that far into it yet. I haven’t posted in awhile, my apologies. I just haven’t felt much like knitting the past few months. My desire for the fiber arts is picking up again, though, so slowly progress is happening.

Tangerine Smoothie Sweater
You may remember the orange sweater that has languished in the UFOs pile for at least 3 summers:

It’s slightly bigger now, measuring 9 inches in length:

Nine Inches of Tangerine Smoothie

The pattern is a lot of fun, and keeps me interested, in spite of the length of time this project has taken so far. The sweater is being knit in the round (back and front at same time), it is a cardigan, and I need 6 more inches in pattern until I get to the armhole decreases. Here’s a closeup of the pattern:

Tangerine Smoothie closeup

Sorry for the darkness of those photos. There isn’t much natural light coming in today (it’s rainy), and the flash doesn’t seem to help a whole lot. The first photo is closest to the true color representation.

Another Turtle Project
I’ve also been working on a special turtle for my nephew. He will be 3 in September. (Hard to believe I started the tangerine sweater the same year my nephew was born. Yikes.)

His turtle started out, much like his sister’s, to be variations of one color. His sister’s is purple and lavendar. His was going to be royal blue and light blue. Then I got to talking with my brother, his father, as I was almost finished with the turtle body, and he told me that my nephew had become obsessed with Spiderman. It didn’t even dawn on me yet really, and my brother didn’t know I was making a turtle for his son. I was kind of half listening. After I hung up with my brother, I went downstairs and continued working on the turtle. About half an hour later, seriously, it hit me that I could make my nephew’s turtle a Spiderman turtle! I had some red yarn, and as Spiderman is red and blue, that seemed perfect. But how to make the spider on the turtle’s shell?

Spidey beginnings

It honestly took me 3 weeks to figure it out. I got pictures of Spiderman from off the Internet, and studied the spider. I tried knitting the spider, beginning from the pointy butt. I tried crocheting it, even embroidering it right into the shell. I tried different weights of black yarn, hoping one of them would develop into a spider. I was seriously having major problems getting a handle on this spider, and I was getting frustrated.

Then one night it all just clicked. I got one of the yarns I felt would work the best, and picked up a smaller sized needle. This time I started at the head of the spider. Joyfully, Spiderman’s insignia began to emerge:

The insignia emerges

I cannot tell you how excited I was. The body of the spider turned out better than I thought it would (it’s still not perfect, but he’s only going to be 3 — he can tease me about it later!) I began to crochet the spider’s legs using the chain stitch, attaching them only at the body of the spider and, for lack of a better term, his toes.

I thought it best to add the spider before I closed up and stuffed the shell. That way I could hide all the ends inside the shell. Here’s what the shell turned out to look like:

Finished shell

I showed it to some friends on Ravelry, and they were even more excited about it than I was. This was encouraging! They suggested I tack the legs of the spider down a little more, to give it the jagged shape, and also to secure the legs against the rambunctiousness of a toddler. I finished the turtle body, and added the shell, and voila! Here he is so far:

Spidey Turtle

I say so far because I am attempting to make a Spidey mask for him. But we’ll see. It’s proving to be as challenging as the spider.

Next up: Yarn of the Month Club Deluge!