Late in July I posted about a lot of handspun yarn I found in a drawer that I forgot about, in Consigned To Oblivion. It was the end of August I began to think about knitting it up in one of my own designs, my Calidez Cardigan. Now finished, this handspun sweater can be posted tomorrow to Canada, for my niece-in-law, who is such an extremely artful person, I think she will be able to appreciate the rustic handspun sweater, which is knit to her personal specifications. Just in time for the cooling of the season, rescued from oblivion!
Continueing from Part Two where I assemble the ingredients of English Rose Tweed.
I think I really like it. I really wasn’t sure that I wanted to have so much rose pink in a yarn for myself. But then again, I recall having knit the protoype for Calidez Cardigan in Berocco Inca Tweed in a color which has been woefully discontinued , I remember being disappointed I couldn’t find it again, and I really do think this spun English Rose Tweed is very similar, but not near as vivid.
Still, there it was in my brain that as I was spinning this test 25g spool I thought of how I would alter it if it is too color-intense. I thought; a little more white, and perhaps a splash of turquoise (or light blue & light green) to neutralize the deep pink. I really want to try that, so I decided to take half of one of the rolags here and blend it with some more white and turquoise (light blue & light green mostly), just to satisfy my curiosity. Here is the result of that , do you see it, on the right? It is rather subdued . . .
I wonder , did curiosity win in this case, and shall I proceed with the rest of the 450 grams by adding turquoise? Or shall I keep the original, and spin up the rest of the 500 grams?
Incidentally, while I was walking up with my camera to the new house to go work this color test, I saw this most interesting mushroom right on the side of the road. I’ve never seen a mushroom sprout in August, but it has been rather humid lately. Istn’ it just beautiful? Does anybody know what sort of mushroom it is?
I am knitting this last prototype of a pile of samples which are from my next pattern, and which will highlight this Autumn’s designs ~~ a set of mitts & hats! Just had to photograph a little teaser, because the sun was streaming in through the window and making my yarn glow, a bit of a yarn-henge moment!
I do love this yarn, which is such a surprise, from wool I made on blending board and spun up  into this very tweedy yarn last weekend. But by next week I will have this pattern up and running with legs, thanks to Wendy, Yvonne, Jane & Dawn for test-knitting!
This is indeed the blackest of black animal fiber I’ve ever seen. I bought it “raw” (weedy & dusty) from Debbie at Brookfarm last year, just over the mountain in Glen Ellen. She didn’t seem very excited to sell me raw unpicked fleece, but it was a special circumstance, and anyway, I nearly begged her. So here I am a year later, in dire need of black wool, or black anything, for Alejandro’s ski hat. Then I remembered this jet black alpaca I had stashed which I only spun up a sample last spring, washed, and noted it’s depth of total true black.
Sunday and today I filled a large bobbin , spinning from handfulls out of the bag (the technical term is called ‘spinning from locks’), then I washed & rinsed it 3 times, thwacked it, and hung it dry. It is absolutely glistening pitch black, and bloomed into soft gorgeousness. I can’t wait to knit it up.
You see, it’s winter in Patagonia, and Alejandro is training for ski, and I’ve promised him a basic ski hat, just in case the other ski hat I made for Ale doesn’t really work well on the slope. Let it be said by me that no other kind of hat belongs on an Argentinian who skis in the Andes more than one made of alpaca, and still more, one hand-spun and knit by a friend who bought the alpaca from another friend. This will be a hat of great character and integrity. I know Alejandro will like it a lot.
