Choosing a yarn

My package from Elann.com came yesterday - the one I ordered on Friday - the one full of different red yarns. Alas, the photo doesn't really do justice to the colors, but right away there was an elimination. The Sonne is the wrong red. It's a bright cherry red that longs to be stranded with some beautiful  whites and greys and blacks, or put together with a kelly green, lemon yellow and sky blue to make some little girl her favorite jacket. Alas for this. It was $1.85 and would have knit me up a dress for $50 which is just about what was in my SILM jar.

Of the other three, this is the one that had the most delicious color. It's Elann.com's own merino/silk/bamboo yarn and is of a redness that makes my mouth water. The silk gives it glow, the wool gives it heft, the bamboo gives it a next to the skin softness. Alas. It is also the most expensive, coming in at $3.98 a ball (still very reasonable) and I would need $104 to make this dress. I'm a little worried, too, about the sag factor. I haven't actually ever worn anything with bamboo in it and, really, the butt sag worries me with this yarn.

Elann.com's highland wool is a wonderful color - a little browner than red, but still very Bess-ish and Queenly and a dress this color would be flattering to me. At the end of the day, when I'm a little more tired and a little more sensitive, this yarn had a little more of a scratchy feel to it. Since I'm considering wearing this yarn over my entire body ... itch factor plays into the equation. This morning, all rested and post-morning coffee and feeling snuggly and relaxed, I can't find any scratchiness to it at all, so this not only a definite possibility, but also puts this yarn in the lineup for a swatch.

Alas, when I purchased this sample skein last Friday they were selling this color in blowout sale bags of 10 for something like $1.98 a skein. That also put this yarn in the front running since it would knit up a dress at $53, which is what's in the SILM jar. I can't find it on sale today - but them's the breaks with a place that sells remainders. Its regular price is still low enough to bring me in a dress at around $67.

K1C2's Camelino is another strong contender. The color is much more a clay color than a red, but that's still a lovely shade for TheQueen. I can wear just about any earth color. This yarn is very smooth. It doesn't have a lot of bounce to it and is more tightly spun than the highland wool. It has a fabulous next-to-the-skin feel to it. A dress in this yarn will come in at $80 but I'd have to jump on it toot sweet. This is in their discount bargain bin. Today there are still 50+ skeins in stock but I would need 27 of them to knit up my dress.

Guess what I will be casting on today.

And in case you are wondering what TheQueen has been knitting on the past week or so - I am sad to say ... it is not the Shawl Collared Vest which is languishing on a dresser by my bed - but somewhat out of sight. I have been making hats, from other yarn that has been languishing ... more in my line of sight, on the chair by the window. Evidently if I have to stare at unknit yarn long enough, it's misery will register and I will knit it out of it's unhappy state.





Here I am trying on the hats I've been knitting - this one is of Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride and something south american ... maybe Manos ...  a single ply in variegated colors - I'll get better photos when it's actually done.

And here is the sample hat I've been knitting along with my students. I think it's a little big because the brim covers up the first row of colorwork, but hey - it's a sample. 

Mail-order Treats

Saturday a pretty little package was in my mailbox when I got home from TheCity. You are all well aware of my preoccupation with the right yarn for a knitted dress - and before I realized I could add long sleeves to the Soho Dress from Modern Top-Down Knitting I was searching for sport yarn to knit the Promenade Dress at the end of the book. (heh heh I will spare you any cliches about loving this book from beginning to end, or first to last, or start to finish.... but you know I'm thinking them.)

The big surprise to me was how hard it was to find sport weight yarn! DK weight ... slightly thicker than the once more common sport weight - is all the rage now. Mind you. I like DK weight. And I appreciate the efforts of all the fiber councils to get us to refer to yarns by their international yarn number. but old habits die hard and I've always called them sport, worsted, bulky ... I can never remember that sport weight is #2 and worsted is #4.

After checking out some of the larger on-line sites and leafing through the fall Patternworks catalog, in search of more options for sport weight yarn, I turned once again to that font of yarn information, Clara Parkes and her vast, rich, deep yarn review resource. I always go to MissyC first because I trust her research and unbiased reporting more than anybody else. And she did not disappoint me - because among the dozens and dozens of yarn companies she writes about I discovered Quince & Company. Rediscovered, actually, since I remember reading the review when it was first published.

I was looking for a reasonably priced sport weight yarn in solid colors to knit the Promenade dress. Something with some spring to it and a nice texture. I don't need merino softness, but I certainly didn't want anything scratchy - this is going to cover my whole body. I wanted a fairly firm twist to this too - nothing loosely spun. It's got to stretch over a derrière that occupies a chair 50% of the work day.

I've been a big fan of Pam Allen, owner of Q&C for quite some time. I love her ...Style books, put out by Interweave Press, especially Scarf Style. The Q&C yarn looked like it might just be what I was seeking. At $5.75 for a 181 yard skein, the price certainly hit the target. The web page was fun to search. Simple, but deceptively so. I ordered a skein of sportweight Chickadee and the irresistible fingering weight Tern, a blend of wool and silk. Just to play with, you know? And, just in case I fell in love with all the Q&C yarns, I ordered her color card so I wouldn't have to depend on my monitor to make future selections.

And the package came on Saturday - less than a week after I placed my order. all wrapped up in pretty tissue paper with a sweet little postcard welcoming me to the fold, signed by Pam. It was much more like getting a present from a friend than a purchase from a store.

The yarns are lovely. Smooth and springy, the sport wt wool has no itch factor (for me) and the wool/silk blend is just slightly silkier. duh. it's got silk in it. I can tell these yarns will take some abuse before they begin to pill. The ply and the springiness of the yarn gives it resiliency. The colors are muted. Even in the color card the bright colors don't scream at you. They are bright. Not loud. I know where I will look when it's time for me to start my next big colorwork project.

And so here I am with these 2 single skeins plus the 4 red samples I ordered on Friday on the way. It seems to me that the next few months will be all about the Swatch.