Thursday, February 23, 2012

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Joy of rediscovery.

My version of the Nicklas Cardigan from MillaMia.
When you work around so much yarn like I do you have to become very hardened to temptation & a sort of 'Yarn Blindness' starts setting in after a while.  Like an addict you start prowling around the mill seeking new yarns, new fibres, new colours - all to feed that need of what is next, new & exciting.

Over the non existent Summer months in Hawkes Bay, I took on a small commission piece for a friend.  Usually I avoid these as I barely have time to do my own knitting, or knitting for Skeinz, but in this case I was caught at an overally generous moment & agreed to knit a toddler cardigan, on the proviso that I had no fixed deadline. I was provided the pattern & as the sex of the child was undetermined, I got free reign on the colours. Merino Soft White, Navy & Lime.

Nicklas Cardigan from MillaMia.com
The pattern (from MillaMia) printed in the May 2011 issue of the Australian WW was designed for 4ply merino - so our Merino Soft fit the bill perfectly.  Now Merino Soft is one of our oldest yarn ranges.  NZ babies have been enveloped by its gentle caress for decades & I hadn't knitted a project in it for years.  So I cast on the project in late Spring & slowing chipped away at it over the holiday months completing it last week.  This is when the revelation happened.  The more I worked on this, the more I kept thinking how good the yarn was to work with.  How soft, great stitch definition, excellent bold colours.  Where on earth had this wonder yarn being hiding?

As I have mentioned in the previous post I am doing a KAL of Ysolda Teagues Cria.  I have just discovered as of today it is more of a 'Knit-alone' as opposed to 'Knit-along', as my offsiders seemed to be either slow casting on, or have cast on, ripped, sworn, cursed & are now having a wee 'time-out'.
Cria is progressing well.
Well I am pleased that my yarn epiphany to use Merino Soft's Barney Purple is now coming to fruition - I am really delighted with how it is performing as Cria is coming together & I am loving the colour more each day.  Like one of my boys rediscovering a long lost toy - I am having tremendous joy rediscovering the beauty of Skeinz classical Merino Soft.

Last Image....
Hugo came with me to work the other day so I could get my picture taken for a magazine article I am featuring in soon. He loves "Mummy's knitting work", and whilst I was faffing about setting up for the photo, I snapped this - Isn't he just too cute!