Tuesday, January 17, 2006

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the siren song begins…

It was almost Springtime last year before the Call of the Lime began for me. Perhaps it is the very balmy temperatures that have me looking for the green – in the grass, in the beds, on the trees. Something should be happening there, but it is JANUARY. The thermometer does not lie but it certainly is confused.

And right around the corner in my very own house is YARN! The beauty of a Stash is such that perhaps one doesn’t have to venture far to fill the need. In 2003 (see Oct. 7th), I made a poncho using triple strands of yarn to make a bulky one. One of these strands was a yarn by Crystal Palace called Merino Frappe, in Pea Green. I also swatched for a cool cable sweater at that time because I had a whole bag of the stuff – but the texture of the fabric was limp and my idea flopped right along with it.

Then I got this last week. I am surely saving my pennies for some of the yarn as shown in the book but in the meantime, this jumped out at me and I was in LOVE!

And I asked the Frappe to dance…

Serendipitously, I found a new yarn store on the far south side (My Sister’s Knits) and picked up a couple of balls of the Frappe in a light sage green. It will become the huge shawl collar on the sweater – so I have bright olive wrapped in a silver olive shot through with the bright. Both the yarns are blended heathers and not totally clear but quite alive with both high and low lights.

The beauty of the pattern is that it is knit at a much tighter gauge than the ball band gauge listed for the yarn – I swatched. It worked. I’m OFF!

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The body of the sweater is now a nice firm sort of flannel looking fabric and the shawl collar will be as drapey as the original piece I made a couple of years ago. This time it works in my favor!