Monday, April 12, 2010

Fibery Frolicks

Choosing the right fiber for a design is often the most challenging (but also exciting part) of the process. Often my choice is dictated by a particular colour and I have to have that yarn without necessarily knowing what it will be become. Other times it is only after playing with a certain fiber that a plan falls into place.

The latter was the case for this beautiful yarn from the Fiber Company. This is their Canopy Yarn in fingering weight (colour Yerba Mate). A luscious blend of baby alpaca, merino and bamboo. Soft doesn't even begin to describe this yarn. It's the kind of yarn you want to rub against your face in ecstasy (unless of course you're allergic to alpaca then definitely not a good idea)! After swatching with this I could see which of my design ideas it would work well for. Progress is being made and I'm very happy with how that one is coming together.

This choice had a lot to do with the colour. I knew I wanted a lace weight yarn and I knew I wanted something with some silk so my first instinct was to visit the Jaggerspun Zephyr at WEBS and this cone of Curry yelled out to me! I snagged it and ran off most satisfied! I love being able to use a cone to knit from, one continuous thread of gold (or tussah silk in this case)! This is destined to become a delicate cardigan in the collection.

Jamieson and Smith's jumper weight yarn.

In this case I did not pick the colours but was asked to put together a design with them. This particular design will be published elsewhere but I still have a lot of these colours left and plan on using them for the collection. As you can see some ends had to be woven in!

Still more choices to be made and playing to be done!

8 comments:

Connie said...

I love looking at snippets of yarn. And I can't wait to see these particular ones realized :) That's so funny... I've had a cone of Zephyr in a fog like color in my stash forever that I've been wanting to do a cardi with. Not sure when (if) I'll ever get to it, but I'll surely look out for yours! Love your work.

grammynan said...

It is always good to hear from you and know that something will soon be forthcoming!

Ariane said...

I agreed with you when you say that choosing the yarn is the most difficult and exciting part. I'm always a little bit stressed to start a project with a certain yarn, because I love it so much and I want to use it right now and I love the design but the two maybe won't fit together.
And then, when you just choose a yarn on the fling and start something and it's beautiful and it's so selfrewarding. I love it. I love to choose yarn.

www.fallingstitches.blogspot.com

Just call me Ruby said...

The yarns all look lovely. Can't wait to see what they have all turned into.

Helen said...

I can't wait to see all these lovely yarns transform into lovely garments!

Hilary said...

What pretty teasers! I can't wait to see what these swatches and balls and yarn ends become!

Karen said...

Love seeing this yarn. Yes--joining yarn to project is the most difficult thing. I'm looking forward to your future blogs to see what decisions you make!

Christine Clemmensen said...

Gorgeous blog! And you are so beautiful.