Knitting and Crochet Blog Week, Day one (2KCBWDAY1)

So, I heard about the second annual Knitting and Crochet Blog Week over at Wibbo's blog at the beginning of the month, and it seemed like a good idea to get myself kick-started again - if there's anyone still reading this, it's obvious that my blogging mojo vanished over the winter and I didn't want to put up another book review post (even though there's one just about ready)! But British Summer Time has started so I'm hoping I'll feel less like hibernating...

Today's topic:

Part of any fibre enthusiast’s hobby is an appreciation of yarn. Choose two yarns that you have either used, are in your stash or which you yearn after and capture what it is you love or loathe about them.

I should probably state now that I am not, and nor have I ever been, a yarn snob. I have a lovely test-knit on the go in James Brett Marble, a soft acrylic; and I'm just as likely to rhapsodise over something by King Cole as by Noro (in fact more so - King Cole don't have a nasty habit of knotting their yarns in the middle and losing the colour progression! But I digress).

However, sometimes you do knit with a posh yarn which just stops you in your tracks. Such is Casbah, by Hand Maiden.

Vital statistics: sock weight; 81% merino, 9% cashmere, 10% nylon. 325m/115g. Superwash.

It's not the longest yardage you'll ever see in a sock yarn, but the cashmere gives it a wonderful smoosh, and every stitch is enjoyable to knit. It comes with a fairly hefty price tag, but it's totally worth it. This is destined to make a Haruni shawl, when I can round up the nearly-a-whole-skein Gerard from I Knit London very kindly passed along to me after he ran out very near the end of his shawl, and get the two in the same place long enough to start knitting...

In terms of the "loathed" yarn, the only one I seriously hate is Rowan's KidSilk Haze. However, Wibbo's blog post today has summed up our mutual loathing of the stuff beautifully. (I'd also add to the litany of faults that it's the only yarn I've ever had problems with in terms of it snapping while I knit it - and I'm a loose knitter.)

So in its place, a yarn I love, but have found seriously difficult to use. Step forward, Cherry Tree Hill's Merino Lace in "Fall Foliage".

Vital statistics: 2-ply laceweight. 100% merino. 2195m/227g. Hand wash only.

I just love this combination of colours, and having 2km of yarn in a single skein is very cool. But as serious lace addicts will realise, a highly variegated yarn has its own problems when it comes to lace patterning - you can have colour or pattern, but if you try combining both...

Suffice it to say that a mystery Pi shawl knit-along was frogged about two-thirds of the way through when I realised that nobody could see the lovely patterns in the shawl, and a second attempt at a simpler lace pattern was also abandoned...

Eventually I took a leaf out of Jackie's book (sadly blogless, but jackier on Ravelry) and combined the yarn with something more subdued (an aubergine-coloured Artesano alpaca 4-ply), and it seems to be working.

This is destined to become a Botanical cardi. I'm hoping to get cracking on it again this week, as a couple of gift knits are nearing completion. I have the body made and one sleeve started, and it's not a complicated pattern...

I have History with CTH Merino lace - the first skein I bought was also too variegated for the pattern I wanted to use it with, too... In the end, I ended up knitting one project with it, and then overdyeing it because it had overwhelmed the subtle patterning... Here it is in its original state, with the overdyed project underneath it...

You'd think I'd learn, really! Well, I have, mostly - I'm still attracted to the really heavily variegated yarns, but then I step back and realise that unless I'm making something pretty plain, less is more...