Knit by Nora

Compulsive ~ a strong, irresistible impulse to act (i.e., to knit) and Obsessive ~ to occupy the mind excessively (thus this blog)

Wednesday, July 09, 2003

Washington, DC
I have a meeting in Washington on Saturday, July 26th and plan to go down early Friday to tool around. Hitting a yarn store and going to Monticello (Thomas Jefferson’s historic home and gardens) are the two activities I want to pursue. Apparently there are no yarn stores right in DC, but there are two in Bethesda, Maryland. If anyone lives in the area, I am open to other LYS suggestions.

Today's Knitting News
I was in a mood to swatch last night and tried my needles on:
· Gedifra Wellness,
· Plymouth Yarns Stone Cotton,
· Rowan Handknit DK Cotton, and
· Rowan Magpie Tweed.
All of these yarns are new to me. As a result, I did not make progress on projects. I have listed a summary of all the cottons (wools are for later).

The Wellness is a substitute for ASC in Grace, a cardie from Rowan #27 (of Pagan fame). This substitution was the brain-child of Wendy who mentioned a sale at Elann. It was less than half the cost of ASC, affordable for a 10 ball cardie.

The Stone Cotton is a substitute for Jo Sharp’s cotton. Again, less expensive and an awesome color (for me). It is for Chaise in the Island Holiday.

Cotton-wise, the HK DK was the most fabulous in feel, looks, just everything was cool. Try a ball, I swear it makes up even better than it looks. Maybe even better than ASC (I feel disloyal, somehow). It will make a fabulous cabled pullover (Fife from A Season’s Tale most likely, instead of the plainer Alex from Rowan #31). Both are form fitting, I just want to show off the yarn in the cabled pattern.

I had swatched my Inca cotton before, but as it is coming up on the needles, I need to make a decision.

As much as it pains me, the Inca cotton is too thin for the tank I wanted to make from Vogue Knitting Chunky Knits – I just can’t get gauge without rewriting the pattern and I do not want to spend time on that. I will check out the tanks for the Knit-Along on Yahoo to see if any would work (I passed on Sitcom as I have 2 other cardies in the basket).

Wools (photos to come).
I am still mulling Rowan Magpie Tweed. I think it will be a cardie, not a pullover (probably from Rowan #24). Because of my office, I need removable layers and I only require so many pullovers for weekends. My skin is a bit too sensitive for 100% content.

I wanted to swatch Rowanspun 4 ply but need #2/3 US (3 mm) needles. I have been undecided about a project for this yarn and was pleased to find something in A Season’s Tale. Isla is a dressy, almost sexy cardigan, although I need trim yarn.

It is strange that I can find (and make) 3 or 4 projects from a couple books (Rowan #27 and A Season’s Tale, for example) and may never make one from other books. What type of creative cluster forms around the style and design elements of certain books?

posted by Nora | 12:26 PM

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