Monday, January 12, 2009

GWOY: January 2009 swatches

The Great Wall of Yarn for the January 2009 TNNA convention is one of my favorite things to do ... I love getting the latest yarns ... playing with them and designing with them .... knitting up swatches that show the yarn to the best advantage.
Here are the swatches I did this year (only two as the package was crushed by USPS and one skein was lost in the mail ...):
This one is O-Wool's (fully organic wool) "Legacy Bulky" in a lovely clay. I used #10s and did this cable pattern (with slight re-drafting of stitches) from Melissa Leapman's latest book Continuous Cables (which is one of those books every knitter should have on their shelves if only to do these cool, out-of-nowhere cable patterns!) This yarn is luscious and knits up beautifully! This yarn would make a spectacular hoodie with cable patterns throughout -- can't wait to start designing one.
This second swatch is SWTC's "Jezebel" (a hand-dyed sock yarn) which I did here in a toe-up, short-row heeled baby sock. The pictures don't do justice to this beautiful purple-shaded yarn that knits up in a delicious "hand" on #2 needles. I did a "heart" lace pattern on the top of the foot with a 2x2 rib sole ... than a mock-cable ribbed cuff that would hold the sock on but look a little more "posh" than a simple rib. Gorgeous, yes? Well, maybe you should see it in "real life"!

I love this opportunity that being a member of AKD gives me ... the chance to swatch with the latest and greatest from the yarn companies (with a special thanks to Heidi at Trendsetters for all she does to get this GWOY out, in and up!).

Happy knittin'