Swatched and set aside
I finally sat down and charted an entire motif of some thirty stitches and ninety-odd rows for the rangoli pattern I wanted to use on the cabled vest. I highly recommend the Stitch & Motif Maker, but boy, my eyes hurt. I also swatched for the vest, but the first swatch has been a disappointment. I bought some Filatura Lanarota 100% cashmere from Smiley’s Yarns because it was unbelievably cheap, and it also turned out to be really really soft when I swatched it in plain stockinette. So far so good.
Unfortunately, in the dark grey colour that P. chose, you can hardly see the cabled ring that’s been knitted Also, the yarn is so loosely plied that it splits practically every second stitch. Digging into stitches for cabling was very difficult. And it’s already quite fuzzy (it bloomed a bit after washing, but not overly so) which is making me worry about its durability. It was cheap, but still. So alas, no cabled vest with this cashmere.
But I have enough for a plain full-sleeved turtleneck, which is what P. opted for instead, so I’ll do it all in stockinette. Which will bore me to tears, but at least the yarn will behave, and it will be really soft.
Instead, I’m going to turn to the Knitpicks yarns I bought last week for some cabled hats, I think.
The cable is a bit hard to see, but that’s often the case in darker colors, especially if it’s not a big cable .
You asked on my blog if I was planning to dye the Wool of the Andes. Not this batch, the sweater will be white. I have dyed some roving using Wilton’s cake dye though and it was lovely, but the colors break apart, so if you want something solid, you’d be better off with acid dyes (for animal fibers, you need a different type dye for plant fibers like cotton). I do plan on getting some acid dyes soon and playing with them. I’ll definitely post once I do. Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook has great info on handpainting roving as well as using different colors in the same pot. And Color in Spinning has a lot of info on solid color dyeing. Both are directed at roving, but the principles can work for yarn as well. Worth checking out at the library if you are interested in dyeing. Hope this helps!
If I expand the picture I can see it, but, no, it’s not very obvious, certainly. It sounds like the yarn would be lovely in stockinette, though, so…
Thanks for the feedback, Alison and Spud. Stockinette it will be for this yarn. Thanks also, Alison, for the detailed reply about the dyeing. I am thinking of doing some dyeing in the near future, and will check out those books then.
Your lace projects are outrageouly pretty! How long have you been knitting? It would take me years to make something like that…