Still knitting away on two of the three projects I wanted to start in February - the Hush cardi (Austin Hoodie pattern) in Skein Fingering Merino cashmere. It's knitting up so lovely and it's very soft. I measured one of my jackets the other day and realized the length is fine without any mods (oh no! No Mods!) haha - those of you who know me well will realize what a shock that will be for to not make any mods...if I end up doing so. So far so good. It's fingering weight and I'm really enjoying knitting with it.
Also want to say that my exchange of yarn from Skein yarns was successful. I had done a custom order in the fall and received 2 skeins which were really not my colour and so unexpectedly not close to the yarn company's photos. I was able to return them and exchange them for some hand-dyed fingering merino cashmere in thistle. Kristen (the owner) is really a genius with the mottled pastels. Just beautiful yarns, and I really love the way the base knits up. Hard to believe my arm was out of commission just a little more than a month ago.
What I returned -
Merino Silk Sport colorway Envy - Pics at left published by Skein Yarns. Pics on right what I received - Rouge - a pinkish red came looking more like copper; and Envy - a complex mix of forest greens and olives, came looking unexpectedly flat:
Here's what I applied my return credit to 4 skeins Fingering Merino Cashmere in Thistle - much closer to the expected picture (skein pic shown on left), and well-matched as requested.
She apparently dyes the skeins in batches of 6, but I think you do have
to request the skeins to be well-matched, otherwise, it does not appear
to be done. Kristen also mentioned that she has someone helping her now
with packaging so for whatever reason she wasn't able to provide a photo
prior to mailing the yarn, even though the yarn was dyed Friday, and
she didn't ship until Wednesday. i.e. you have to be willing to suspend
your expectations based on her photos on what you will expect to
actually receive when making a custom order. I would recommend going
with one of the more pastel with cream colorways if you do a custom order, as she is definitely a
genius when making those, as compared to the darker more saturated tones.
Also, stay away from custom orders of colors she's made on merino or bfl sock bases where she doesn't have a stock photo for the merino-silk sport. Even with that, as indicated, there is a range of what she says accepts as being that colorway.
Shown Below - The Orient - a gorgeous enriching colorway on BFL sock. I requested this colorway on Merino-silk sport and received the yarn shown at right - a dark brooding colorway closer to brown and burgundy. Although supposedly dyed together, only one of the skeins had more of the apricot color shown. I was trying to break out of my "norm". I'm ok with the colorway and didn't want to pay to return the skeins, but it was not what I expected based on the photo, and based on the way the colors appear to look on the different bases (see skeinyarn.com and user: skeinyarns on flickr to see how close her photos show the colorways between merno silk sport, and fingering merino cashmere bases.
Similarly, here is what Hush looks like on her Flickr (left), and in my hand (right) - just a hair on the continuum of colorway different than what one expects... ok, hard to see in my comparison - but the left picture is much more of a chestnut brown large and lively on my monitor from the skein yarn website, whereas, in my hand, it's a much more muted brown...but still lovely, if you can handle the unexpected change:
The second project was one I started on a whim - Little Colonnade, another shawl from Stephen West. I'm using a skein of bugga that I bought on destash in the colorway Blue Morpho - a mix of royal blue, a light sky blue, and chocolate brown. very soft and lovely. I'm about 40% in; finished the stockinette part and ready to start the lace columns part.
As for breakwater, which I wanted to start, I am holding off to start that one until I get more done on these other 2 projects. The reason being, that I guess I can't split my attention 3 ways, as evidenced by my starting the neck and knitting oddly the first time, and knitting a moebius mid-way through the first rows, on the second time. Hoping that will be a March or perhaps April project. I'm interested to see how the Traveller DK yarn knits up and handles long-term. Many are enamoured with it. I hope it will be as soft as the swatch seems to be.
More pics to come when I feel like I have knit a bit more to show.
