Another lovely pattern by Ysolda, the Snapdragon Tam, knit in Madelinetosh DK.

Originally I was not impressed with this yarn, but the subtlety I am now learning is actually more to my taste in the final fabric than some of those beautiful and crazy skeins. The yarn was very dense when knitting, but after blocking it is quite nice and soft.

I did it!

My FIRST sweater (the Myrtle Cardigan by Snowden Becker in Malabrigo Sock) and I’m so happy with it.

There are a few funny shaped parts, but I learned a lot and it is totally wearable!  Firstly, I wish I had knitted a smaller size – I blocked my swatch, but not really in the way lace should be blocked, and I have a very drapey sweater.  The sleeves weren’t as much of a pain as I expected, but then they came out sort of funny-looking with really deep armholes, so maybe I should have been paying more attention.  The sweater is surprisingly heavy and gravity drags it down a bit (in the end I added some crochet chains to the inside for structure.)

Of course, as you will notice immediately, the color is very different from the skeins and swatch I posted previously.  This is because as I knit I began to realize that the beautiful colors of the skein just would not translate to a lace sweater.  In fact, the pattern could only be read close-up or by holding the sweater up to a light, so that it was in silhouette…

I think I’ve learned my lesson on buying variegated yarns based on the skeins only.  They are so so so beautiful, but I know that my personal taste for finished garments never has that look.

yarns before and after dying (notice less variegation)

Since I’d had some previous success overdying, I decided to try it on this sweater.  I know, it seems a shame given how lovely the Malabrigo colors are, but after all that work I wanted to be sure to wear it, and had no time/patience to re-knit.  I tested a swatch, and it maintained some of the variation, but darkened up nicely.  However, when it came time to do the real thing I sort-of went overboard and it’s a little darker and more uniform than I had wished.  And I had to anti-block and then block…  an ordeal, but well worth it!

I love summer food – especially tomatoes!  Mmm…

Couscous from this book, in an effort to eat a more varied diet.

And home-made lemonade (made by a first-time lemonade-er, with and improvised recipe.)

What a lovely month!

Although most of  my new yarns are destined for other people and projects, one was for ME – so naturally I had to “get that project out of the way” so that it would not “distract” me from all the other knitting…

So, here I present you with the Colette Cowl, in the super-chunky Malabrigo Rasta in Abril.  The pattern itself shows a really beautiful and delicate example of the cowl, but I knew that wouldn’t be my style.  I really like this chunky oversized version that breaks up the colors of the yarn.  It’s knit together enough so that I’m not literally wearing a skein, but feels pretty loose and laid-back.  If only it were a little cooler right now…

before and after dropping the stitches

This would have been a super-fast knit in bulky yarn, but i was admiring the yarn and the bumpiness too much…  so it took a couple hours. The short-row shaping of Ysolda‘s Urchin pattern is ingenious, and when combined with the new Malabrigo Rasta yarn it is so squooshy.  I think the colors look like seaweed in an oilslick.

As promised, here are some shots of the fabric I had printed by Spoonflower.  First up, is my design Safari which is a border design.  The main body is dark blue with textured stripes, and the edge is a complementary green.  I added a little elephant, just because.

As you can see, the colors are very deep, but I would recommend gentle handwashing, as the abrasion on creases in my machine left some lighter chaffed areas.  I don’t mind much, but for the price it’s worth being careful.

Below you can see my print alongside a gnome pattern by Heather Ross which is just one of her old MunkiMunki fabrics she is re-releasing through Spoonflower.  Lucky for those of us who LOVE her designs but have only just discovered the sold-out fabric.

I am using both fabrics in my Color Wheel quilt, but from Safari I can get two wedges, from the edge and the body of the print.

Check out this amazing quilt designed by Joelle Hoverson of PurlSoho and the PurlBee.  Although they sell bundles of fabric through the shop, I think this version is particularly beautiful because of the sentiment attached to it.  I am collecting fabrics slowly (also, I don’t own a sewing machine at the moment, so there’s no rush) and like that each has a memory associated with it.

Here is my tiny collection of wedges so far:

These are from near to far:

• Heather Ross – Far Far Away (double gauze) and
• Heather Ross – Gnomes for Spoonflower
• Unknown
• RobbyRaccoon design on Spoonflower
• Echino Fall 2009 (two fussycut from the same fabric – linen)
• RobbyRaccoon design on Spoonflower
• Nani Iro by Naomi Ito – Fuukei (double gauze)
• Liberty of London (cotton lawn)

Only 51 more to go!

For a friend’s wedding I used the photos I took a while ago of my lovely pie to make a love-themed card.  If you’d like a free copy of your own click here to download a pdf.

If you don’t already have it installed on your computer, you will need Adobe  Reader to view the file.

Yipee!

My order from Webs just arrived and it is beautiful…  and only one skein for me!  I am very proud of this self control.  While knitting all my queued projects I can dream about what to make with my renegade yarn.

(I’m feeling too lazy to link to each yarn, so if you dare, click on over to Webs and check it out for yourself!)

Noro Kureyon – my first Noro and it is amazing!

Madelinetosh DK in Tart – Pretty, but not as special as the hype would suggest

Rowan Felted Tweed in Carbon

and in Pine – nice and rustic!

Rowan Cocoon in Crag

and Shale – Oh my, this yarn is smooth and soft and divine!

Cascade 220 Heathers in Summer Sky

and Peacock – which has pink and green fibers giving it an iridescent look without being shiny – amazing!

Malabrigo Rasta in Zarzamora

and Abril – this one is MINE all MINE!

(Appologies for all the exclamation marks.  I’m a pretty recent knitting convert and seeing all the yarns I’ve only ever read about right in front of me, and holding them in my own hands makes me very excited.)

I love fabric and textile design, especially in bright bold colors. 

Marimekko, nuff said.

Now-a-days if you can dream up a fabric, you can get it delivered right to your hands in a matter of weeks.  Two services I have tried are Spoonflower and Karmakraft.  (Disclaimer: I have tried each exactly once, so my experiences are limited and you should really go elsewhere like this post at TrueUp to get a more rounded opinion.)

I will be showing more on future posts, but for now, here’s a preview:

spoonflower (l+r), bonbonkakku (center), all my designs

Spoonflower is definitely the most popular from what I can see in the crafting-blog world.  They have pretty fast turn-around, contests, and even a growing marketplace of indie-designers.  It’s trying to become a little fabric-design community which is pretty cool.  I was happy with my prints (both one of my design, as well as some by Heather Ross and others) but I found the fabric on the coarser side of quilting cottons – they do admit to chaning their base cloths from time to time.  The colors also appeared printed onto the surface of the fabric.

Karmakraft which is based in the USA but prints in China had a slower turn-around, but you’re dealing with a real person on the other end of a custom order.  I was also happy to be able to send in my file in vector format which I think results in great quality for a designer.  The method of printing is chemically very different, and I found the colors looked more embedded into the fabric itself.  Of course, it was (at that time) more expensive, but I thought the control was worth it.  (Sorry, I used up most of this fabric, so I don’t have any samples to show right now.)

Another option I have tried is BonBonKakku (yes, Finnish!) where the winners of fabric design competitions get their fabric sold in the shop.  None of the royalties, but some free yardage which is pretty great!  I’ve had two of my designs, icicle (holiday theme) and zest (photo theme), place/win in competitions, although only zest is in the shop right now.  The the fabric is pretty thick, better for home furnishing, pillows and bags.  Nice and sturdy.

Finally, for those of you hoping to break into designing a fabric collection for actual commercial sale, check out Lizzy House‘s e-book which will tell you the story of how she got her start and landed a contract, as well as great advice on creating a collection.  It’s a pretty inspiring story.