So many projects, so little time
Now that the holiday sock binge is out of the way, I'm looking at things I want to knit for me, and experiencing a bit of choice paralysis. There are at least four great patterns I'm eager to knit - and wear - and I've been wandering all over the Web testing potential yarn choices against my budget, which will be a little tight until I get done with all the dental work I've got scheduled in the New Year.
The decision isn't made easier by the gift I got from my sister Martha, another budding knitter: Vicki Square's Knit Kimono from Interweave Press. Oh, my, but I love these designs, both for their aesthetics and because they're exactly the sort of thing I love to wear - loose, flowing kimono-styled jackets that look great over simple, solid-colored slacks and tops or dresses. Lovely, lovely stuff, and I've thoroughly enjoyed knitting from Square's other books, Folk Bags and Folk Hats.
I'm most taken by the cover piece, a thigh-length jacket called Kumon, done in an open-work pattern that looks like it would be a blast to knit. But the recommended yarn gives me pause: Berroco's Glacé is a lovely, shimmery tubular rayon ribbon yarn that's just as slippery as can be; I've knitted with it, and it's a challenge to keep it balled while you're trying to work with it - it shimmies and slides and loops itself into a tangle at the slightest motion. So I've been Googling around for substitutes that have similar quanlities of sheen and drape, and everything that's appealing to me is OMG expensive...
Maybe I'll put that one off until I get my tax refund and can afford to splurge. Meantime, I'm looking at Veronik Avery's Oblique, from the fall Knitty, which is just my kind of comfy cardigan, the Juno Regina wrap from that same issue, and just about anything I haven't made yet from Victorian Lace Today (and I still have some yummy cashmere-silk laceweight in my stash for those...)
No rush. But I feel at loose ends without something on the needles...
The decision isn't made easier by the gift I got from my sister Martha, another budding knitter: Vicki Square's Knit Kimono from Interweave Press. Oh, my, but I love these designs, both for their aesthetics and because they're exactly the sort of thing I love to wear - loose, flowing kimono-styled jackets that look great over simple, solid-colored slacks and tops or dresses. Lovely, lovely stuff, and I've thoroughly enjoyed knitting from Square's other books, Folk Bags and Folk Hats.
I'm most taken by the cover piece, a thigh-length jacket called Kumon, done in an open-work pattern that looks like it would be a blast to knit. But the recommended yarn gives me pause: Berroco's Glacé is a lovely, shimmery tubular rayon ribbon yarn that's just as slippery as can be; I've knitted with it, and it's a challenge to keep it balled while you're trying to work with it - it shimmies and slides and loops itself into a tangle at the slightest motion. So I've been Googling around for substitutes that have similar quanlities of sheen and drape, and everything that's appealing to me is OMG expensive...
Maybe I'll put that one off until I get my tax refund and can afford to splurge. Meantime, I'm looking at Veronik Avery's Oblique, from the fall Knitty, which is just my kind of comfy cardigan, the Juno Regina wrap from that same issue, and just about anything I haven't made yet from Victorian Lace Today (and I still have some yummy cashmere-silk laceweight in my stash for those...)
No rush. But I feel at loose ends without something on the needles...