Friday, February 20, 2009


This is what happens when you let a teenager choose colors. I like it.

This is the yarn I purchased in Germany. I've been able to get a tighter gauge than the ball band indicates, which suits me just fine.

I've had some not so successful experiences with cotton/cotton blends. With a sleeve finished, I think that this one will work out well.

Friday, February 13, 2009

Whew

The Flying Geese gansey is done. It fits. It looks great on my husband.

Almost a year for this one. It is not a hard or tedious pattern. I may even make it again.
I have started on a wild one. My daughter has become vegan. Thus all the wool, alpaca, silk, and mixes of these are off limits to her sensibility. I'm still her mother, and I'm still a knitter, and I still melt when I hear "Mommy, will you knit a sweater for me???"

She wanted cables or color. This tells me I need an acrylic or microfiber blend. Rowan designers may be able to pull off fair isle or cables with 100% cotton, but I'm not going there.
I'm not pleased with the selection or price of yarn here in Paris. Since we were planning a long weekend in Germany, I used Ravelry to look up a yarn store.

We ended up in the Maschenkunst store. Wonderful experience, and a very nice shop. We didn't get off the the best start, as their delicious selection of yarn was mostly 100% natural stuff, and that stuff wasn't vegan. It was January, so their summer cotton stock had not come in. So selection for vegan girl was limited. We all fussed around, and finally found some selection we could work with.

Now, what to do with it?

Daughter and I sat on their comfy sofa to look at some books, and for further negociations. We were offered coffee - very sweet. Eventually we were shown the new Isenberger book and daughter loved the Somer i Toyko design. Well, that's a start - we can change out the colors, adjust the gauge. We agreed that she would like it, and I would be happy knitting it.

So, the swatch is above, most of the calculations have been worked, and I've got about half of a sleeve on the needles.