Thursday, November 11, 2010

Noro and Holiday Knitting

I went to my lys in Hilton Head several months ago, with no particular purchase in mind.  When there, I found this book



I liked the cover sweater for a little girl who is related to me, for Christmas.  The pattern, called Rita, is in the yarn Aya.  However, I have found in the past that yarns-that-change-color and lace often don't mix. Sometimes, its just all too much for me.  For example, in this shawl which I knit in the last year:




I really like this shawl pattern which is Windsbraut-Herbstwind, by Monika Eckhert;  it is done in minimochi.  I loved both the pattern and the smooth yarn in my favorite purples/greens, but together the lace and the changing color didn't work.  The shawl went to Afghans for Afghans. So, I learned my lesson this year, and decided to go with a solid yarn for the pattern.

I went with some Plymouth Encore instead, here's the result



It wasn't as boring as a lot of children's patterns with vast prairies of stockinette or garter, thanks to the lace pattern.  I need to add buttons.  And I just need to finish the sweater for her brother, also from this book.

Now, I'm not saying that I don't like the Noro thing, here's an example of what I love. I've been working on this afghan to be for about four years.  It's  a mitred square afghan, in Kureyon.  I have more squares done, but not sewn together. I love it.  But in its own way, it's a vast prairie of stockinette, interrupted by the occasional k2tog, so I've got a long way to go.





Back to the topic of gifting for children;  if I run out of knitting steam, I buy a book.  This is one of my favorite childrens books


A Symphony for the Sheep is the story in rhyme of sheep-to-sweater, set in Ireland, by Cynthia Millen, with lovely illustrations by Mary Azarian, who is a woodcut artist in Vermont.  Unfortunately, it is out of print.  Available used at Amazon.  If Houghton Mifflin had any sense, they would do a reprint and sell at our favorite knitting venues.

1 comment:

  1. The cardigan is so lovely.You are right about variegated yarns and lace, however I think that it suits patterns knit on the bias.

    ReplyDelete