Monday Moments and Cashmere and Colorful Dreams

The beginning of a new week, at home.  I love to travel, but I love home more.  My thoughts this weekend filled with creative plans and my head filled with colors as I slept.

 

     The colors in my head was my non-stop trying to figure out how to organize the 2 different color-ways of my yarn coming for my Sorbet Heavenly Shawl.  It's a mystery shawl done in the Summer 2016 KAL just started.  I was unaware till I perused the chat in the group on Ravelry (Fleckenstein & Friends Group ) that it's knitted sideways and maybe somewhere the KAL suggested one color scheme, but I missed it.  I originally wasn't going to do it, but I impetuously decided to do it early in the morning of the first day last Friday and ordered two complimentary colors thinking it's knit top down.  So the designer in the chat group asked me if I'm using two colorways.  Gulp, yes.  ( Friday Fantasy Knits- Summer 2016 KAL Shawl in Sherbet Colors.) 

     OK, I live in the mindset that nothing is impossible, so all night I've been trying to figure out how best to knit this up.  Do I divide each skein (mentally) into four pieces and knit them alternatively?  Leaving a balanced effect?  Or do I switch colors every 100 yards?  The designer suggested every two rows.  Will it blend better that way?  But I don't want to lose the graduated effect of the color changes.  Another thought, that I really like, is to blend the colors in as I knit.  I thought there were at least two similar colors in the ombre of rainbow colors of each that would be similar and if I stop with one with a color that appears close to the beginning color of the other skein, perhaps I can have blending them together and making it look like one.   I suspect my answers will be easier when I receive the yarn in the mail this week.  I'll have to see and do, it'll be experiential.  Somethings just aren't clear till done.  What I must remember to do is to weigh at the beginning my yarn so I know when I'm half way through to decrease.

     On the creative front- in search of cashmere.  I have a love for it, but since I can't afford it my love affair is relegated to my dreams.  When at a party in the Adirondacks an older Southern gal with charm, elegantly whipped out this poncho in teal that to my eyes was obviously cashmere.  It floats in the air.  She deftly arranged it on her shoulders as I scolded myself not to be jealous.

     I asked later about it and found where she bought it downtown (I use that term loosely for a short strip of town with a handful of shops, one is the local grocery store which still has its worn wooden floorboards).  In the local boutique I found the cashmere poncho priced at $149.  Lovely, maybe someday.  All in an amazing array of colors.  Interestingly I looked up cashmere poncho on the internet and found a Nepal source for identical wraps at $45, but the shipping is around $29.  Wholesale Pashmina- 100% Cashmere Poncho in Slash Neck Design.  I don't know about the quality, but I like the idea of buying from a company selling from a country where the people could use the support.  A video of a similar cashmere poncho gives you a better idea of it's flow and drape- Summer cashmere: featherweight ponchos.

     The simple design is just a long rectangle folded over with a slit on the side for the head, making an asymmetrical draping poncho!  Anyway the idea in my head of creating my own poncho and knitting it is starting percolate away.  I dived into Ravelry to see if my idea is already there and so far I see nothing like what is in my head.    Madelinetosh Pashmina Yarn  with its merino, silk and cashmere content seems to be an amazing choice and for a few months I'm going to re-think this and develope a shawl in cashmere.  I've got some great ideas!

    Knitting Now-  I'm working on my Get Ready To Choose Your Own Adventure Hat KAL and I've completed my brim, doing a multicolor long-tail cast-on and finished my two inches.  I'm awaiting the update tomorrow. Technique Thursday- Swatching for The Hat KAL

      In the meantime while I await my yarn for Friday Fantasy Knits- Summer 2016 KAL Shawl in Sherbet Colors and the update for the Hat KAL July, I've come back to my socks with the mini-needles.  Wednesday's Yarn Along- Knitting a Sock  Yes, I need to learn patience with them, but I figure if I work a bit every night on them I'll get somewhere.  They are so very cute-

My TGV shawl in Noro is almost done, but on hold till I get new circular needles (hopefully Friday).  They broke while gone in the Adirondack Mountains, a hard place to find needles!

Have a Happy Knitted Week!