Colorwork & Spinning

I had to push that vote sticker down. Sorry it's taken so long to do so. We've been busy here and have had a very rough couple of weeks.

However, to keep me busy and to quiet my mind, I've been working on some demanding knitting.

Enter in Eunny Jang's Ivy League Vest. A couple of friends and I are all doing this as a class at the LYS I work at. The class is more for the steek lesson, which I'm a little apprehensive about. I understand the logistics of it, but I guess I just won't totally believe it really works until I've done it. Eeee!

Steeking aside, this is a great pattern and I'm really enjoying the colorwork. I love watching the pattern form so quickly!

I wish I would have taken another photo before I started blogging. I'm one section farther than this shows and the one I just finished is my favorite part of the pattern design. I love the swirls and the relationship of dark to light and back again. The ribbing is also like that and that's another favorite part. Eunny really knows how to use shading in color to draw attention to and from areas of importance.






Speaking of color, I chose dramatically different colors for my vest than the pattern called for (and different yarn.) I love my color choices but after seeing my friends' vests, I may have to do another in softer shades of blues. Theirs are gorgeous!

We all decided to use Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool. This yarn is a 65/35 blend of wool and silk that has an interesting texture when knitted. I really like the feel and the bit of rustic air it gives to the fair isle patterning.

Speaking of fair isle - I am totally loving it. I don't know if I'd go as far as to say new obsession, but I will point out that three of my most recent projects have been stranded colorwork and/or fair isle. Just sayin'.





...Anyway...

My colors, clockwise from top, are:

Chalk, Eggshell, Flax, Dark Coffee Brown, Claret, and Golden. A very Autumnal palette which represents the colors I seem to gravitate to: warm, earthy shades.

The vest's original colors --> my substitutions:
Oatmeal (MC) --> Eggshell
Sandalwood (CC) --> Golden
Woodsmoke --> Claret
White --> Chalk
Pearl --> Flax
Loden --> Dk. Coffee Brown

All right, enough of that. I've got some spinning to show and I'm quite proud of it.

Earlier this summer my friend Nancy brought back this beautiful white alpaca fiber from Idaho where she and her daughter had traveled.

It was lovely to spin! I wanted a very fine lofty lace weight yarn and I'm pretty pleased with my results.

This is a little more than half out of four ounces. I'll spin up the rest sometime soon - I had to stop so I could spin some color. I got 670yds from 2 5/8oz. I haven't officially measured wpi yet, but if I had to guess, I'd say between 38-42wpi.

That's the last of anything interesting I've got to update with. Guess I'd better get knitting/spinning!