Knititude

Too much of a good thing

I can find colors I like within every hue of the rainbow-- but that doesn't mean I want to wear them all at once.  So unfortunately my enthusiasm for this Filatura di Crosa "Dusk" yarn, colorway #5, waned as I knit along and revealed color after color which had been hidden inside the skein.  You may have guessed (since I'm showing a photo here) that this will not be one of the swatches I will be sending along with a design submission to a magazine.  It's oriented this way because I had the idea of working the piece sideways so that the stripes of color would be slimmingly vertical.  (Maybe this concept would work better with a different yarn; it doesn't seem fully successful to me in this case.) 

As someone who doesn't use much variegated yarn, this specimen was interesting for me because the color is not a simple repeat; several strands of yarn which change colors at different rates have been twisted together, so that the overall color effect is ever-changing, with more heathered hues giving way to brighter sections.  I personally would have been happier with a much narrower range of colors, such as those shown in these two snippets of the photo above.

However, I didn't give up on finding a way to use this stuff:  I then tried combining it with a solid color yarn, the idea being to "tame" all those rowdy colors.  Perhaps it was largely the stitch pattern that left me saying "beh"*, but once again, running the entire ROYGBV gamut (this time with colorway #4 and a greenish instead of pinkish background) struck me as, I don't know, overly exuberant.  The colors pictured below are quite muted compared to the real thing, by the way.  As you can see from the photo below, I was still looking for a way to use those color changes in a vertical direction.

(If anyone is interested, the stitch pattern is "String of Purls"-- cute, eh?-- from Barbara Walker's 2nd Treasury.)

*"Well?" in Italian.  Gotta play Scrabble in Italian sometime, so I can use "beh," along with "boh" (who knows, I don't know), "ni" (neither yes nor no), "ne" (some of, of them), "ci" (us, there), "voi" (you plural), "noi" (we)....

LYS Venezia!

When I first saw this store window, I thought it was a yarn shop, but then I realized that those rainbow-colored displays on the back wall are made up of scarves, not balls of yarn.  Disappointing!

Quando ho visto questa vetrina, pensavo che fosse un negozio dei filati, ma poi mi sono accorto che quelle esibizioni colorate sul muro sono sciarpe, non gomitoli.  Che delusione!

But then, the next day, we were winding our way from the Accademia Bridge towards the Rialto Bridge, when we passed another colorful shop window, and this time, the window did indeed contain yarn.  With a little encouragement from the husband (who remained outside with his cigar), I went in and found that the shop had a much larger selection of yarns than anything I've found in Como.  So if you find yourself in Venice, drop by Lellabella, on Calla della Mandola (della Cortesia), where you will find wool, cashmere, silk, cotton, linen and blended yarns, a few handknit sweaters, and Lella and Monica, who were very nice.

Pero', il prossimo giorno, stavamo andando dal Ponte dell' Accademia  al Ponte Di Rialto quando passavamo davanti ad un' altra vetrina pittoresca, e questa volta, la vetrina infatti ha contenuto dei filati.  Con un po' di incoraggiamento da mio marito (che rimanava fuori con il suo sigarro), sono andata dentro e ho saputo che il negozio aveva una selezione di filati piu grande come i negozi a Como.  Quindi, se ti trovi a Venezia, va' a Lellabella, a Calle della Mandola (della Cortesia), dove troverai i filati di lana, casimiro, seta, cotone, lino e mescolanze, alcune maglie fatte a mano, e Lella e monica, che erano molto simpatiche. 

I found this Filatura di Crosa "Dusk," cotton and acrylic, with colors gorgeous enough to make me forget my general lack of success with variegated yarns; I have enough of the one on the left to make a sweater, while the other two are for submissions I'm working on.

Ho trovato questo FIlatura di Crosa "Dusk," cotone e acrilico, con colori bellissimi; ho abbastanza del colore sinistro per fare una maglia, ma invece l' altri due sono per sottomissione cio che sto lavorando.  

(I thought the colors lovely enough to deserve a portrait.)

(Pensavo i colori cosi' belli di meritare un ritratto.)

A few things you may not have known about Italy

(having nothing to do with the food, and very little to do with the scenery).

(Se sia Italiana/o, immagino che gia sappia queste cose.)

1)  Radio stations do the traffic report for the entire country at once.   In Como, where we are within shouting distance of Switzerland, not only do we hear about the traffic on the autostrada from the south Como exit to the Swiss border:  we also find out about accidents and traffic jams in Rome and in Naples.

2)  There is no word for "jaywalker"; in Italian those socks would be called "coloro che attraversano la strada all'infuori dei passaggi pedonali," or "those who cross the street outside of the pedestrian crosswalk."  Actually, they would just be called "Jaywalkers."

3)  According to an Italian women's magazine I read recently, Italian women are more concerned with cellulite than with wrinkles (no wonder, considering all the underwear stores displaying thongs and those funny little panties that only cover the top two-thirds of the butt cheeks)-- hence all of the anti-cellulite products advertised in pharmacy windows.  I thought this ad was especially eye-catching (ouch!).

Math twice, knit once:

I think this should be the knitter's counterpoint to the carpenter's mantra of "measure twice, cut once."   The reason the photos show an item with the bottom edge of loose stitches hanging free is that I didn't math twice-- not even once, really.  I followed the somewhat unspecific advice given by Barbara Walker in Knitting From the Top for a "classic raglan pullover," not stopping to think that I was planning to make a pullover with a wider and deeper neck than the one she describes as "classic."  So I cast on stitches so the back neck width would be around 10 inches, and then increased at the raglan seams every other row.  Once I reached the point where it was time to divide for front, back and sleeves, I realized that I was going to have a sleeve circumference of somewhere around 13 inches at the upper arm (about right for my purposes), and a bust circumference of around 41 inches (about 6 inches too many).  Oops.

Well, Barbara does mention that it may "be necessary to depart from the standard rate of increasing."  Unfortunately for me, if I had decreased the frequency of raglan increases for all sections (back, front and sleeves), then the sleeves would have ended up being too tight, and if I had only decreased the frequency of increases for front and back, then the stitch pattern would not have mitered nicely at the raglan seam.  So it quickly became clear that I would have to frog and start over from the beginning, and the only way to keep the basic idea and use the same stitch pattern would be to make the back and front narrower at the neck, and the sleeve sections wider.

To be honest, I'm not sure I am loving this idea, although I will give it another chance before I move onto something else.  When I swatched for this project, I really liked the stitch pattern, which is a four-stitch cable with eyelets; the decreases move from side to side with each cable section, causing the cable to wave back and forth.  I wonder why I like non-symmetrical wavy patterns so much (see here, and here, and here), and why I keep trying to make them work with raglan seams.... 

Yarn subs for Roped Shell and Wakame Lace Tunic

LeeAnn posted a comment asking about yarn substitutions for the Roped Shell in the Summer 2008 IK, and as I had been thinking about this subject, I decided to stick my neck out and offer a few possibilities (bear in mind that unless otherwise noted, I do not have personal experience with these yarns, and am basing my opinion mainly on fiber content and yarn weight/gauge).  Remember that swatching is very important when switching yarns, and that you may need to try several different needle sizes to get the correct gauge.  I do feel strongly that since the Filatura di Crosa Luxury (Roped Shell) and Tilli Tomas Fil de la Mer (Wakame Lace Tunic) are both very expensive ($18-20 per skein), suggesting more reasonably priced alternatives is something somebody should do, and since that somebody is not IK (ahem), I guess next in line would be me.  I will say that I felt both of these yarns were excellent choices for their projects; the Luxury drapes very nicely, which is important for the look of the Roped Shell (and much less yarn is required for the shell than for the tunic), and I really love the subtle color variations and the texture of the Fil de la Mer.  So if you can afford them, great.  If not:

Roped Shell:   LeeAnn had asked if I thought KnitPicks Elegance might work.  I think KnitPicks Shine Sport would be a better choice, because the gauge is closer to the Luxury, and although the alpaca/silk combo in the Elegance might drape nicely (alpaca tends to have less resilience than wool), I think the modal/cotton in the Shine Sport would probably also drape quite well.  Another alternative which is still rather expensive is Louet Euroflax sport weight, 100% linen.  This is around $21-22 per skein, but each skein is 100 grams (or you can buy 1/2 lb cones), meaning it ends up costing around half as much as the Luxury or Fil de la Mer, and I have swatched with it for other projects, and like it a lot.  Other possibilities:  Classic Elite Cotton Bamboo (around $8), Reynolds Rise & Shine (cotton, $7-8), or Reynolds Saucy Sport (cotton, $3-4). 

Wakame Tunic:  KnitPicks CotLin might work nicely for this.  Like the Shine Sport, it is very economical at $2.49 per 50 gram ball!  Classic Elite Classic Silk (cotton, silk, nylon, ~$8), Ella Rae Silkience (cotton, modal, silk, rayon, $5-6), RYC Bamboo Soft (bamboo, ~$9) and Elsebeth Lavold Hempathy (hemp, cotton, modal, ~$6) are other possibilities; I have some Classic Silk and Hempathy in my stash and have swatched with both for other projects.

I haven't included any wool, alpaca or cashmere blends; certainly you could use one of these for a dressy-ish cool weather layering piece (the shell) or a more all-seasons tunic, but I would recommend keeping wool and nylon content on the low side for a nicely draping fabric.