Saturday, August 23, 2008

Confessions of a green-aholic..

I must have something drastically wrong with me...maybe if I get it out in the open, I’ll be able to deal with it...I really become attached to what I’m knitting. Even if it’s a colour I’m not particularly fond of, by the time I’m finished, it’s my favourite! Now, normally this wouldn’t be a problem because, after all, it’s not like I’m custom knitting or anything. But, here’s the thing. Sue from BT Yarns sent me 2 colours of that new linen yarn and asked me if I’d make her something to wear for the Inspiration ‘08 - surprise her, she said - use whatever you want for you and give me the other, whatever, I’m not fussy - is how she put it. Now, she knows I have a thing for green lately, so she sent a beige and a green. When I saw the green, I tried to convince myself that it was too bluey for my current wardrobe so I figured I’d make her the green and I’d get the beige, which is a lovely shade also. Well, I made several swatches - stockinette in the beige at T7 to start with and get the feel of the new yarn - washed and dried it and oh my, (yawn) how boring...then I used the green, experimenting with a couple of new one-row-tucks and tensions. Oh-oh, that old feeling, all of a sudden this green is starting to appeal to me. To round out the collection, I made another swatch in the beige, using my favourite of the one-row-tucks, sub-consciously I believe, trying to fix in my mind that the beige would be mine. In a real effort to dislike the green, I had picked stitch patterns that I knew I wouldn’t just love.
Anyway, fighting the feeling, I had switched directions - I told you last week about the tiered skirt - I’ve got three made - mine’s black because it’s the shortest - no problem there. There’s one in shades of ivory/beige/taupe that I deliberately made long, for Sue. And then I made a green one of in-between length, that I’m on the fence about - though I really like it, it’s a tad too long for me and Sue does colour well....
Back to the green linen - time’s a-wasting and it’s only 2 weeks to Cleveland. I pulled out all of my green things from the past 2 years, laid them on my bed and tried to convince myself that the last thing I needed was another green cardigan of any shape or size. Impulsively, I grabbed the green, threaded up the machine, put Sue’s schematic in the KR11 and quickly began to knit her first sleeve, which will be too long for me. Many times, I’ll make sleeves first, because it gives you a larger piece of fabric to look at and another dilemma was deciding to whether use the knit side or the purl side as right side. Did I mention the hem turned out beautiful on this thing? And the sheen of the yarn, even after I threw it in the washer AND dryer!! By the time I finished the second sleeve, I’m trying to think up a way to have a turn back cuff...
Thank heaven my next project is a Christmas dress for Rhiana - I’m using red...

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