October 6, 2003
Back to the Back
2/3 of the way
I didn't get quite as far as I had hoped on the back of the SBC over the weekend. I'm only about 2/3 of the way there. There's still about 7 more inches to go. I'm almost done with the raspberry, however. I'm still amazed at how alternating garter stitch and stockinette can make something that fakes out my eyes so well when I look straight at it.
I swatched the Matchmaker. I'm not going to post pictures of a stockinette swatch, but I did get gauge and as soon as I get a little farther along with SBC, I'll be casting on Culdesac. I'm really looking forward to Culdesac. I don't have anything in my "in progress" list that is too mind challenging right now, and I am actually beginning to feel the need to pick up a more complicated project. Saturday night at around midnight I was combing through my yarn boxes trying to decide if I should start a lace scarf project or not. I restrained the urge (it's not good for me to start anything that late at night) by swatching the Matchmaker.
The Matchmaker is pretty fabu stuff. Soft and rich and easy to knit. It's also machine washable (which surprised me compeltely). It's not dirt cheap, but it's not crazy expensive, either -- $6/skein 120 m/50 g skein. I don't think I've knit with DK weight yarn before, so this should be a fun first. Becky's right about it being worth hugging the postman for!
Speaking of hugging the postman, I got something else in the mail that was in the same postman hugging category on Saturday. Feast your eyes on this:
4 skeins of Colinette Giotto in Florentina that is destined to become the Sienna Cardigan. Every year John and I throw a big holday party. This cardigan is going to be part of my dress up outfit for the event. I'm particularly pleased with the cost of the top. It pays to order your Colinette from the UK. Without printing actual numbers, even with the book and shipping and handling I still paid around half of what it would cost to buy the stuff here in the US.
I just love the colors in the Florentina colorway... magenta, pink, blue, green. Hard for a jewel tone girl like myself to resist. It's probably a good thing that I don't have two out of the 3 sizes of circular Addis that I need to get started!
Gee, thanks a LOT, Theresa. I just drooled all over my keyboard when I spied your pictures of that lovely G-I-O-T-T-O. It. Is. Gorgeous. I'd be sleepin' with it under my pillow, ferpetesake.
Emma -- The only reason I have any willpower with the Giotto is that I don't have the 12 mm needles (?!) required to get started. I need 6, 8 and 12 mm needles and all I have is the 8s.
Becky -- There's a strict "no yarn in bed" rule in my house, otherwise I would be. As it is, I keep running into my little craft room to pet it and see that it is okay. And actually, you should thank Emma ;) she's the one who "enabled" this transaction. Her LYS must be a most dangerous place to be.
So spill, where'd you get the colinette in the UK? As I was reading this, my tagliatelli arrived. I hid it so I wouldn't be tempted! Good thing I don't have a pattern for this ab fab stuff yet.
What a lovely sweater - Giotto! Where did you get your blocking board? I have searched high and low for one like yours.
the optical illusion-ing is very freaky! i wonder how it is when you're wearing it. like a hologram, turn one way, stripes, turn another, squares... people are like hold on your sweater just changed shapes!! :)
Carolyn -- when I first saw the sweater at the Michigan Fiber Festival, I didn't even notice the squares. I just thought it was a striped sweater. I think Mom will have great fun with it. I think you have also given it it's new name -- the Holographic sweater!
Barb -- it's called a SpaceBoard. You can get them at KnitPicks (and probably other online knitting places). It's a fabulous knitting toy!
Sexy Giotto !
How can you resist the urge to just dump everything else and knit that up right now ?!