a sea silk virgin sets sail . . .

over the roiling waves she goes . . .

it’s not like i didn’t know about it; i just haven’t had the opportunity to knit with it.
but now i am and . . . well . . . wow. everything i thought it would be? not exactly.

it’s sooo much better. i thought it would be floppy and and slippery and maybe difficult, but it’s not. it’s plump and silky and completely luxurious. it has great stitch definition, a substantial hand that, at the same time, feels liquid, like heavy water

lis and jodi at one planet yarn and fiber sent me a batch of sea silk to whip up something for spring. i’ve been having so much fun working on these triangle shawls that i went with another one of those.

i’ve been saving this beautiful geometric stitch pattern for something special in the perfect yarn and this is it. the pattern is simple, ancient, and intrinsically textile in nature—it will showcase the yarn beautifully. i chose the pewter colorway which has very subtle color shifts—there are a range of metallic tones and the transitions are revealed as i drape the fabric this way or that, move it from one light source to another. color, sheen, and pattern all moving from neck to hem. i’m putting a simple garter border along the top edge and a knit-on edging at the hem (i found a great geometric edge to complement the body motif).

so that’s one thing i’ve been working on. it was going to be a secret, but now it’s not.

what else? well, truthfully, i have so many things going on right now i don’t know where to start. honestly, the range of projects i’m working on is a little overwhelming—we got sweaters, we got socks, we got scarves, we got shawls, and hoo-boy, do we got swatching. there’s so much that i missed blogging yesterday because i thought i didn’t have anything to write about (in other words, i’m blocking out the mountain of work i have going, heh). and, i was working on a pattern.

when i finally got the camera out this morning and started taking pictures, i realized i have a boatload of stuff to share. i’ll probably split it up so that i have something left for tomorrow, actually

i’m progressing nicely on the fernfrost scarf. as it gains length i’m liking it more and more.
and the yarn, sigh—i don’t necessarily idolize cashmere over other fibers, but deb’s cashmere laceweight and this scarf are a great match—i find myself stopping work frequently to admire the yarn’s inner glow, the fuzzy halo clinging to the lines of the frost motif, the movement of the pattern. the motif is stabilizing the softness of the yarn just enough that it’s going to hold it’s shape really well, i think.

the bricker socks would be all done if i hadn’t run out of yarn just before starting the toe of sock #2 last night. next time, i’ll read the label more closely for a yardage count . . . i know darn well that 400 yards is not enough for man socks, but i went ahead and knit them anyway—my bad. no worries though—my hero, carol, sent me the leftovers from her test knit and they arrived this morning, yay. we’ll have a pair by morning and i can take some pictures. all’s well that ends well.

again, the more sock i see piled up, the more i love the yarn—this is miss babs yummy sock yarn in colorway terracopper. the color fairly glows and the fabric is squishy without being heavy—nice.

last night i started swatching with this 100% superfine alpaca from a verb for keeping warm. i’ve got the nightingale colorway here (not, as i first thought, 10% chance of rain). the color is a little more gray than the camera picked up in this morning’s light.

i swatched for several hours, but didn’t come up with anything that knocked my socks off except the edging i thought would work anyway. after a certain amount of time, my patience with myself hit the wall, so i stopped to mull it over for a day or so. i know just what i want to achieve; i have a good mental picture of several interpretations. but that’s not what emerges on the needles. there are thousands of things to choose from—why is this so hard sometimes??

well, for one thing, it’s slow going with superfine yarn and lots of motifs don’t translate well at this scale, either in dimension or in density (ok, that’s two things). knock out a whole bunch for that those reasons. and then, a lot of motifs are just a PITA to execute in fine yarn on little needles and for me, knitting has to be fun and relaxing and rewarding above all else. so knock out a bunch more. there are still a whole lotta possibilities, especially for a piece in a rectangular format. but i have 1085 yards total here and i’m not sure that’s enough for a stole (working with finer yarn requires more yardage). so i need something that will work with my edging and knit up prettily/easily in triangular form (and conform to all the other requirements above). knock out most of what’s left.

i have not completely discounted the idea of doing a really large scarf (with stole option of course for overachievers). in fact, i like this idea a lot and can see it in my mind—something for our inner isadora. more swatching needed.

and more jam

i got some yarn from kim yesterday for a project we’ll be working on together and she tucked these jewels into the box for me—a handmade gift from someone i love; what could be sweeter? many thanks kim; we love jam.

i have all kinds of sweater talk, but i think i’ll save that for next time—that way i can have more swatches, too. suffice it to say that my first sweater pattern is now in the hands of the test knitters and my second one is almost ready to send to the tech editor. yay.

up next, we have the rimefrost socks ready to roll out—look for them in a just a little bit.