It’s not everyday I get to photograph my designs with color-coordinating rhododendrons and peonies, so when the opportunity presented itself today, I had to take advantage. The peonies are especially vibrant this year, so I spent some extra time trying to capture their beauty.
It’s Memorial Day here; moments ago there was a jet fly-by in memory of those who fell in military service. While my dad served in WWII, he returned home. I take a moment to think of those who didn’t, and those who loved them.
The day off from work allows me some time to work on design-related things, like writing a blog post and taking pictures of flowers + knits.
This is the design I have been working on since February, still unnamed. It has been sent for tech-editing, and I expect it to be ready for test knitting mid- to late-June. If you are interested in testing, please let me know. I am planning to run the test on Yarn Pond. I will likely announce the test on Instagram and Facebook, so please follow me there to get the earliest information.
You may notice it has similarities to the Ethereal Sweater, but a major difference is that it has no stranded colorwork. Only one color is ever worked at a time. All of the colorwork is created with slipped stitches. Note: that also makes the knitting go faster, in my opinion!
The sweater uses a main color (I used Dragonfly Fibers Pixie in Captain Nemo) and 10 contrasting colors. The contrasting colors were pulled from my stash – all purple tones except for the aqua. When I had knit all of the colors into the sweater, I was teaching a class at Wild Knits Salem, and brought this sweater with me. A skein of Manos del Uruguay Alegria in Malvin snagged me as I walked by (they do that, you know). This colorway magically tied all the colors in the sweater together and added an extra something special. It really made the sweater sing!
Fading is the technique used to blend the colors one into another. It’s really quite fun to do, and instructions are included, of course.
The hem and sleeve cuff are worked in another slipped stitch pattern that almost looks woven. This hem makes me very happy.
Finally, two separate people have detected very strong mermaid vibes upon viewing the sweater in person. Based on that, I found buttons that remind me of sand dollars. I’m also trying to come up with a name that might convey the mermaid / ocean / seaside / seawater impression, and would welcome any ideas you might have.
In other news, here is the Calla Lily Wrap in Malabrigo Yarn Rios in Sabiduria. It is the first yarn I knit the wrap in and it works up amazingly!
Thank you for joining me today, and I hope the rest of your week is delightful.
xoxo
Carol
