Monday, October 01, 2007

Are you still knitting?

It has been quite some time since the KAL started, some of us have finished and some have discovered that the stole was not for them. Sometimes I feel that it is a legitimate question to ask, "Are you still knitting (on the FPS)?"

Well, I am happy to tell you that the answer is definitely positive! Without giving much detail, Carine let us know that she is still working on hers. We hope a photo is on its way!

Denise's FPS has grown to Tier 25. Yes, she added 4 more tiers to make it to her desired length. She should be working on the border now, which she decided to dropped the method in the pattern. Instead she would pick up stitches and knit the seed stitch. Let's see how that would turn out.

Busy gal Heather is making slow progress:Keep going, Heather, even if it is one row at a time. You are doing great.

Leigha has switched her project to the KnitPicks Harmony needles. It seems that she loves the wooden needles more:She is now at Tier 3.

Micky's multi-colored FPS never stops to amaze me with its color changes:Lovely, isn't it? Half way through Tier 5 already!

And of course, we have Dawn's FPS modeled shot this time:You can see more photos in her blog.

But of course, there are still some of you who are in a somewhat limbo, like Janina, who emailed me this:

"Hello, Agnes and everyone. Janina here, having recently picked up knitting needles after a busy summer. There has been knitting, honest. I finished a modular knitted stole, an Iris Schrier design, for my MIL. Now her shoulders can stay warm in the air conditioning.

I re-knit my first sock. I am up to the exciting heel turn part. The first time I knit this sock, it came out big enough for Sasquatch. It's looking more human-sized this time.

But the beauteous, the awe-inspiring, Forest Path Stole? Not even swatched. I could not explain my reluctance. I tune in for the updates on the KAL page. I revel in the progress reports and in the glorious Finished Photos. But beginning my own has a decidedly "meh" factor. I finally, after much stash-and-navel gazing, figured it out.

It's the yarn. It's not perfect. I have in my stash Cherry Tree Hill alpaca in Birches. Too many color changes, not enough yardage, and besides, that is slated for Kiri.
I have a large amount of Zephyr in Blueberry. A forest motif in denim blue doesn't seem right. I bought more Zephyr, in vanilla. A good plain, go-with-everything shade that will showcase the exquisite lace work. Utterly logical and reasonable choice, I had a hard time explaining to myself (after the package came in the mail) that it wasn't quite ....right.

I am a very emotional and intuitive person. When I think of the Forest Path, when I look at the motifs, the first thing I see is birch leaves against a blue spring sky. And then, lily of the valley, the shade of the new shoots deepened by shadows and earth. How can I find a yarn that perfectly expresses that? To further complicate things, green is a color I do not wear easily, and do not have much of it in my wardrobe. Yet, green it must be. Not too emerald, not new-leaf green, not yellow toned at all... only the perfect green will do. The stole is flatly refusing to even consider anything else.

I have googled and searched for so long, but I need help. I need the perfect color. A blue-toned green, perhaps a "near solid" type of hand paint? I greatly admire the JoJoLand Harmony that Mickey is using, and her nearly-solid green is so close, but ultimately too balanced green a green. If there were a yarn with a looong color change into a sky blue here and there, well that would be just IT, you know?

Does this yarn exist? I know working with a yarn artist is possible, but budget is an unfortunate shackle here. All comments gratefully accepted.

Janina in Canada, where it is getting cold enough to think of shawls on a daily basis"


Any thoughts and ideas to share?

P.S. I must apologize to Debi for not forwarding the updates to her last month since I was caught in my Mother-in-Law's visit ... I didn't even realize it was time for the update until she has left! :P

4 comments:

Micky said...

Maybe the juniper green color of Zephyr from Fiddle Sticks Knitting?
http://www.fiddlesticksknitting.com/ZephyrColours.html
All of their colors are beautiful and would do this stole justice.
:)

Crunchy said...

A friend suggested a stole knit in a white cotton or wool and then hand painted. I am actually contemplating this next year-doing it in white again and then hand painting the leaves but leaving the rest of the shawl white. Or maybe doing the lily of the valley "berries" as a red. Just somethign to contemplate!

Denise/CT said...

Have you checked out Colourmart in the UK? (http://www.colourmart.com/eng)? I think his cashmere, wool/silk, or 100% silk would all work. There are no variegated colors but some beautiful greens. He is so good about sending samples, even has a sample pkg and you can request the colors for it. I'm using the fine silk, single ply. I think it would of been easier to knit had I had him twist it into a 2 ply, you can twist different colors together as well. Purchase one cone and he'll twist whatever ply you'd like from that cone. They have a raw silk for $16.00 a cone, that you could hand paint. I am so pleased with his fast shipping and prices. I just want everyone to knit with fantastic yarns at great prices, grin.
I also saw some Lady Elanor Stoles being knit with Kochoran, by Noro. This seems to have long repeats in color. Not sure if they'd have lace weight yarn or what your looking for, this line is nice and soft with the added silk in the yarn.
I just purchased some great lace yarn from: http://www.woolywonkafibers.com/
at a reasonable price for hand painted yarn (semi solids too). I think she does custom work. I am also very fond of: http://www.spunkyhats.com/accyarn.htm
again I believe she does custom work and has long yardage for under $20.00.
Looking forward to your joining us. I think of each of you every time I work on this never ending boarder. It is nice to know I'm not alone. Those of you that have finished inspire me that I TOO can DO IT!!

Laura said...

Zephyr does have some lovely greens... Basil, Juniper, Emerald, Jade, Bottle Green. Or, since you don't usually do green, have you considered making it a woodsy brown? Mahogany might work, or Sable. I found all those colors at www.theknitter.com. Prices are reasonable, and they offer free shipping.

Also, KnitPicks Alpaca Cloud comes in a lovely Moss Heather. I used that for my Kiri and Mountain Peaks stoles, and love it. The yarn knit up like a dream, is super soft and warm, and is quite inexpensive.

Have fun searching!