purlsandmurmers

More Anny Blatt

It appears that "tomorrow" became three days.  Oh well.

Anny Blatt book 203, "Couture" is not as interesting to me as the previous book.  There are a lot of sweaters that remind me of sweaters Anny Blatt did in the 90's and even late 80's, but I think the originals are better.  Most of the patterns are just a little "off" to me, or perhaps it is just too much bling.  

At first I was thrilled by three sweaters with classic shapes and interesting intarsia patterns, but after due consideration I realized that the only one that really calls to me is this cover sweater.  

Even with the pailletes it calls to me.  Or perhaps it is just the summer flowers which indicate a longing to be out in the garden.

I probably will not knit it anyway for the same reasons mentioned in my previous post, namely I am already backed up on colorwork sweaters and this is not calling to me loudly enough to displace those items already in the queue.

The only other sweater in this book that appeals is this rather classic cardigan, called Lorraine.

Again, it is not that unusual or special, pattern wise or even stitch wise, but it is just a lovely classic cardigan of the type that I would wear over and over and over again.

I guess that alone should be enough reason to knit it.  

But attraction is fickle, at least my attraction to knittng projects, and being steadfast and integrating well into the wardrobe aren't always what I am looking for in a knitting relationship.  Where is the excitement, the suspense, the surprise?

In terms of knitting thrills the cover sweater is more enticing.  Will either one get knit?  Well, fall is not here yet.

Warm Woolen Sweaters and Crisp Apple Strudel

This post has been revised with improved photos

Double click on all photos to open a full sized version in another window

It always happens this way: In the midst of summer heat and humidity, when the air is too hot and too heavy and the thought of holding yarn, much less wearing any kind of sweater has slowed my knitting down to a long slow drawl, the winter knitting  books begin to arrive.

You might think that looking at winter knitting patterns in the middle of summer heat would be the last thing I would want to do.  You would be surprised.  The lure of winter yarns is much like the thrill that comes every December when the spring gardening catalogs start to arrive, whetting the appetite for balmy spring days surrounded by beautiful flowers.    With winter knitting magazines come dreams of crisp autumn days and cozy winter evenings in front of the fire.  Winter dreams consist of all the things I love, hearty stews, crispy duck, warm wool and cashmere, full bodied red wine, brandy by the fire, snow, cranberries... Not that I don't love summer berries and produce, crisp linens and beautiful flowers, but the heat and humidity?  Bah.  That I could do without.

And so just when I think that I summer will never end, the fall temptations begin to arrive.

The new Anny Blatt Intemporel, Book #204, is filled with sweaters I would love to knit.  In fact the shorter list here would be the things I don't like.  The problem is that I want to knit everything even though I know it will never happen.  Still, dreams are cheap enough.

First of all I love the cover vest.  Well, that is not exactly true.  I love the cover vest as it is  styled in the cover photograph.  Upon looking at the line drawings I see that it is just a giant rectangle with a ribbed neck.  It will probably not stay in place properly, and most of all it will not give me that wide shouldered - narrow hipped look of the model.   In fact it probably doesn't even look all that great on the model when she is standing straight.  It probably falls off her shoulders and just looks wide and floppy.

I toyed with the idea of fixing it, wondering if I could extend the ribbed front look with some garter stitch or something and make a round drawstring waist, breaking the lace in two.  In the end these idle fantasies are always too much work.  There are too many other things in the world to knit.

When I saw the long cabled sweater on the back cover (leda, far right) I was very excited.  When I saw that there was another one inside I felt like i had hit the jackpot.  I can live in this kind of sweater when the weather turns cold and I much prefer the longer length to the more traditional shorter style of cabled sweater.  I think the pattern on the turtleneck is the more interesting of the two, and when I was younger it would have been my first choice.  But it is a very long expanse of sweater and I am increasingly appreciating the wearing potential of a more open neckline.

For those of us who are tall or who like long sweaters.  This issue is the mother lode.

The long cardigan on the far left reminds me very much of a long black cashmere cardigan my MIL gave me shortly before I married her son.  I still have that cardigan and it is probably one of the most frequently worn cardigans in my closet.  Since it is more than 20 years old at this point, I keep meaning to make another, but I have never gotten around to doing so.  This cardigan is the exact same shape and length as my favorite cardigan.  The Merinos yarn called for in this pattern is a slightly heavier gauge, but the yarn is yummy and the interesting basket weave stitch is attractive and will hopefully not be too tedious to knit.  This project would probably be a very good investment of knitting time.

The red cardigan coat is just so lovely, although I am not completely sure it is my style.  I think it could work wit the right outfit, but at this point I think this is more of a fantasy knit that will marvelously enhance my fantasy wardrobe.

While I am on the subject of long sweaters, here are two more that caught my fancy.  The long dusky plum sweater calls for "fine kid" and is knit on 6 different sizes of needles.  I love  the line of this sweater and it is a very flattering look for me.  I love the lace patterns at the hems also, although I may have to make the sleeves slightly narrower simply because I am the kind of person who has an unfortunate tendency to drag my sleeves through my soup.

Isn't the scarf wonderful too?

I jut adore this color work sweater too.  I love the fit through the waist, the way the sweater flares from waist to hem, the beautiful lusciously feminine colors.  Most of all however I have to admit that I love the idea of this sweater because it is knit entirely in Angora Super and I love angora.  Geesh, I feel soft and pretty and cuddly just thinking about this sweater.  But I have several color work sweaters in the works and they are all currently stalled. So I don't think this is a reasonable investment at this time.  Yes I could buy other yarn, but it is the angoraness (yes I know, not a word) of this sweater that appeals as much as the pretty colors.

Finally there are two shorter cardigans:

One Classic.

One not so classic.

At the moment I am drawn to the less classic one.  I like the modified empire line, it is soft and feminine but still has enough structure that I think it will look stunning with a narrow tailored skirt, or with pants as shown.  

And here I have gone on an on and haven't even looked at the second of the two Anny Blatt books that arrived.  

Tomorrow

Dreaming of Spring

At last, a finished Object.

I named this sweater "Dreaming of Spring" because of its spring colors, and because it is a warm sweater that I was knitting in February.  I intended to wear it through the spring season, which ended up being quite long, but instead I set it aside and forgot about it.

It is a blended sweater, knit with two strands of yarn on size 19 needles with a gauge of 1.75 stitches/inch.

All yarns are by Colinette:

Mohair, 2 skeins, light green color

Skye, 1 skein, dark umber

Tagliatelli, 2 skeins, blue purple

Zanziba, 1 skein Dark Umber

Shimmer 5, 1 skein, Toscana

I had a Colinette kit for a throw, which I had purchased long ago, in colors that blended with the decor in my family room.  It never got made.  The family room has changed slightly, and I am no longer interested in the throw.  I love the yarns but they were not the most flattering colors (yellow greens with some pinks and purples).

One night at Knitting group one of the other knitters was entranced by two deep purple skeins of Colinette Tagliatelli.  I was entranced too.  She decided not to buy the yarn,  When I got home it suddenly occurred to me that the deep purple would look lovely with the soft yellow-green/celadon type colors in my Colinette kit and I stayed up too late playing with my pantone kit

A couple of days later I went back to the yarn store, kit in hand, and the Tagliatelli was still there.  It looked like a good combination.  I ended up buying another Colinette kit as well, dismantling both kits and grouping the yarn into selections for two sweaters, each one using yarn from both kits. 

I worked out a sequence for the yarns that appeared attractive to me.  The sweater is knit with one skein of mohair throughout, the other skeins are rotated.  There are actually two shades of green mohair:  one yellow green and one a blue/gray green. (I called them yellow moss and blue moss.)  One stripe is knit with both skeins of mohair, making a transition between the blue and yellow mohair stripe sequences.

This is the sequence I decided upon:

yellow moss shimmer 5

yellow moss tagliatelli

yellow moss blue moss

blue moss skye

blue moss tagliatelli

blue moss zanziba

Then I just started knitting, having a rough idea in my head of what I wanted.  I decided on the length, took a few measurements (waist, length from hip to waist, length from waist to underarm, etc).  I added short row shaping at the bust to make a dart, and so that the stripes wouldn't get all wavy and wonky on me.

In the photo on the right the sleeves have been pushed up to elbow length as it was much too hot today for even a loosely knit mohair sweater. 

I think it turned out quite nicely and I am looking forward to being able to wear it.

Tying Up Loose Ends

I am finishing up the green and purple mohair/blended sweater called "Dreaming of Spring".  It really just needs sewing up and weaving in.

I've said it before, but blended sweaters require an awful lot of weaving in of loose ends.  I don't mind doing it, I find it kind of relaxing, much the same way I find sitting and weeding relaxing. 

Yes, I know, tell me I am cracked.

Anyway, I will take this with me today, but I don't think I will be working on it while sitting in waiting rooms during DH's appointments -- it is just too hot out.  But I will take it with me to knitting group tonight.  I might even work on it.