What with all the swatching and illuminated yarn posts, I'll bet you guys thought I wasn't actually doing any knitting-related work. Well I have, and I also spent three days dying yarn for another project that I will talk about in another post.
Panache Sweater
I was rootling around in my yarn stash the other day and ran across 14 balls of KnitPicks Panache. It's a bulky yarn (40% baby alpaca, 20% cashmere, 20% silk, 20% extrafine merino) that they no longer carry. Too bad--it has a fabulously soft hand and excellent stitch definition.
It felt so nice that I yanked it out of my stash drawer (leaving a nice big hole to fill) and made this, with the design help of my KnitWare program:
The sweater is patterned after an old Annie Blatt design that I made 30 years ago. I never wore it--they yarn turned out to be too itchy for me--and I had to give it away. I made quite a few changes from the original--different gauge, yarn, ribbing, collar...but it's the same color and the puffed moss-stitch sleeves follow the original concept.
At 4.5 spi, it only took a week of pickup knitting to finish. I loved everything about the yarn except the quality control. Each ball of 68 yards had at least two knots. And these weren't your common tied variety either--the ends were glued together. Never encountered glue globs in yarn before.
Lyra
I reserve the early mornings for complicated knitting, and for the past month or so, have been working on Niebling's Lyra. This morning, I hit row 113. Of course, you can't see anything pretty in this red blob, but I assure you that it looks really cool when I hold it up to the light!
Socks
As always, I have a pair of plain socks for car knitting. These will be dress socks for Roy, which will go nicely with his tuxedo, assuming he gets around to buying one. The yarn is Adirondack Soxie--I don't remember what colorway.
Never Enough Nieblings
Finally, I started thinking about my next Niebling. Unfortunately, Harry is thinking about his next Niebling. This means that all the patterns are in a drawer under the waterbed, which Harry has fitted out as a luxury apartment, complete with an electronic lock that only responds to his legprint.
He emailed me a short list of choices and a long list of yarn that he wanted. As always, his choices are impeccable.
Lotus Flower
Adelaida
Pomegranate and PalmHarry told me that he gets first choice, but I am welcome to choose one of his rejects and any yarn that he has tossed out of his apartment. How did this happen to me, reduced to groveling for patterns and knitting leftovers?
Fortunately, Harry knows nothing about the Princess shawl, as he has been immersed in decorating his apartment, ordering expensive food items from Balducci's, and scaring the figlets out of the UPS guy. Princess is mine, all mine!
31 comments:
Oh, I have a tuxedo in exactly the same colour!
Are you taking votes? If so, I love Adelaida.
That sweater is too cool! I love how majestic it makes you look. Congrats on it.
Dear Dave--
Of course you have a tuxedo in that color. You are welcome to borrow the socks any time you feel like painting the town red, green, blue, yellow, and pink.
Oh yes, I forgot. Please feel free to vote on the three choices. Harry wants to know.
I absolutely love your sweater. My mother may have actually made the similar Annie Blatt sweater for me when I was younger. The puffed moss-stitch sleeves are very familure. Your little pet there really makes the look as well.
Can not wait to see your shawl. The red is gorgeous. And of course perfect socks for a tux.
Hope you neck is feeling better!
PS> My vote is for the Lotus Flowers
Oh, nice sweater.
And I like Adelaida.
Personally, I like the lotus Leaf pattern. Tell Harry to shove off, the patterns are yours, yours, YOURS! Mwa ha ha ha. Also,, you own the waterbed he is under, soooo.......
I love the sweater. I am partial to the puffy sleeve look too.
Beautiful sweater. Love the blue. As for Niebling on this end of the stick will have to wait. If the PO does not bring my Princess tomorrow I am going to cry! Heart attack is out for now :D
What an awesome sweater! And the lace...drooooool.
I love the color :-) and.... Lyra... wow, there are no words to express.. and that red...wow I love it :-)
lotus. not that I'll be able to find it, but where was lotus published? thanks. karen
Your sweater is "the bomb" as my nephew would say. You really have been busy! Your Lyra in Red is wonderful as is all your lace knitting. It's hard to decided on tne next Niebling but I think Harry should keep his many legs to himself and let you knit your own patterns.I don't have a copy of the Adelaida so of course I'd love to see you knit it, but any of the three are terrific.
Lovely sweater - love the cuffs!
My vote goes to P&P.
the sweater looks great on you and it's a nice colour....
I vote for lotus flower being your next Niebling....
I'm looking forward to seeing your work on the Princess shawl too... I shan't be starting until next year...
those sleeves are fabulous! :) And I can't wait to see your parade of Nieblings...
Ooh, tough choice. I think I'd do lotus first, then pomegranate, then Adelaida.
It might be sacrilege, but I'm not really sure I like the Princes shawl...
I love the sweater. Looks really warm and comfy. As for your Niebling work, well, they're all beautiful.
You probably mentioned this a bizzilion times, but what yarn are you using for your Lyra? Is that zephyr?
That's a really lovely sweater and I love the look of your Lyra. Can't wait to see it when it's done and blocked. I think it's going to be sensational! The Princess shawl looks a wonderful pattern and, as for future Nieblings, I vote for the Lotus Flower.
Love the sweater. Love the Lyra. My vote? The Lotus Flower.
OMG, I made that sweater *years* ago!
Looks lovely on you, but um, I had no idea you were so, errrrr, olive skinned. I loved all the Nieblings, couldn't chose one. And Roy's dress socks? do they glow in the dark?
Dear Judith--
Roy's socks don't glow in the dark,but my head does. I never need flashlights to catch flies.
And what goes around comes around. That is a timeless sweater and I love the new one to death. I've been wearing it for two days. It's fabulous! I am so sorry that KnitPicks discontinued that yarn, knots and all.
My vote is for Adelaida. I am thru with my latest lace knitting fix and am anxious for more. I am dying to make a shawl in my Baruffa. I hope to do it Fleegle style, using only one strand and a smaller needle. You are an inspiration to me.
Beautiful sweater.
Oh, and I vote for Lotus flower.
Beautiful sweater Fleegle - and all those gorgeous shawls - I love them all - Lotus is my favourite! Adelaida is lovely too! Love the socks!
Such a nice fit in your sweater, even in a style that is not my favorite (puffy sleeves) but it goes with your "girly" figure.
I vote for Adelaida. Where do you get all these Niebling patterns? Old Anna magazines?
Love the sweater but I "hate" you for pulling off wearing it, I would look like some husky football player in the puff sleeves.
I vote for Lotus Blossom, but it is a hard choice because they are all beautiful.
Those are incredible lace patterns! I have never seen anything like them before! I can see that choosing would be difficult:) I am also curious, where did you get the patterns?
I did some reading about Niebling patterns on the web after seeing this blog, so I now know how difficult it is to acquire the patterns. I will be keeping an eye out on ebay. Thank you for drawing my attention to them, and please ignore my previous question :)
The tailoring of Anny Blatt patterns has always been excellent.
And my vote goes to pomegranate and palm: the variation in the motifs provides a very natural look.
I vote for Lotus. There's something about the negative space on that one that appeals to me.
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