Gray: Damp, dark, dank, dreary. These are the words that come to mind recently as the weather turned cool and rainy. The house is dark. It is none too thrilling outside either. Although it has been cool and damp all week, the temperature barely topping 70 degrees, today is much hotter, 81 degrees at 11 AM. , hotter yet before the end of the day. Still there is no sun. We have traded cool damp and dreary for hot, heavy and sodden and still gray. For the first morning this week there is no fog, but the air remains thick. The house remains dark.
Is it any wonder that my urge to knit a pretty, frilly, white piece of froth has fallen by the wayside. My thoughts have been on Fall knitting all week, although today's heavy heat reminds me that it will be some time before wools are inviting against the skin.
If only knitting Passel would insure the return of hot sunny days frolicking among the flowers. I want to knit it. I want to wear it. I dream of wearing the feminine white sweater with white pants in the bright sunshine. Here we are, heading into September and I still crave white, white and bright colors.
As I headed out for Thursday Knitting I was primed for distraction.
Enter a new shipment of Alchemy Silken Straw: The colors were absolutely stunning. I wanted to grab them all and run off with them, hording them flike precious gems filled with life-giving brightness, saving them up to illuminate future somber darkness-filled days. The texture intrigued. I had no mental reference points for how this would knit. What kind of fabric would it produce? Obviously there would be some crispness there, but would the silk soften? Would it produce a soft draping fabric or a scrunchy crisp drape?
I indulged in a skein just to play. I decided to knit a swatch and wash it to see what kind of fabric is produced. It is not an inexpensive yarn. $28 to produce a swatch may be expensive to one way of thinking, but it is cheaper than a symphony ticket, and probably provides far more hours of entertainment. One skein is also much easier on the pocketbook than many skeins which prove to be wrong for the intended project.
I didn't have the right size of needle with me, so I ended up buying size 3 bamboo needles. The yarn calls for size 4 US, and I knit loosely so 3 seemed like a good starting point.
It was a mistake. I had difficulty casting on the yarn. My gauge was inconsistent. Splits were a big problem. As soon as I came home and switched to metal needles all went smoothly again. As you can see in the photo, everything got much smoother when I switched from bamboo (at the bottom of the swatch on the right). The splitting problem also went away. I wonder if I can return them -- after I only used them a few hours in the shop.
I often find that I am much more likely to split a yarn when using bamboo than when using metal needles. Even though I am a loose knitter, and I might think that my gauge would be looser on metal than on wood, I find that the opposite is true. I struggle less with the yarn on the metal and therefore I am more consistent.
I am not far along yet. I don't know how the swatch will be affected by washing, but already the yarn is softer than it appeared in the skein. I am starting to dream of lacy knitted things and lovely little camisoles and tanks. This morning I looked up the Shirley Paden pattern in the summer Interweave knits. That is another possibility. Ah, knitting dreams. I don't need more yarn or more pending projects, but my dreams are not hampered by such practical considerations.
But for now, this scrunchy little bit of purple silk is making me very happy.
New yarn had arrived at Yarn Central when we gathered for knitting last night.
The colors are so phenomenal that they photograph as bold and wonderful as they are in person!
Posted by: Gina | Saturday, August 25, 2007 at 11:17 PM