I don’t really need more yarn… but I recently discovered mandel
and instantly craved one of these sweaters. No matter how big my stash gets I never seem to have the right yarn for the right pattern at the right time! In this case… I was missing a drapey DK. I have some good DK’s in sweater quantities, but none of them sufficiently drapey to suit this design.
So I went to the knitter’s fair this weekend and got myself my favourite Bolivian alpaca… Illimani Royal 1, to make this sweater.
I bought silver and turqoise in this yarn, last year, at the knitter’s fair from the same store: Feather Your Nest (from Sarnia.) A bit of reading online revealed that this was a Canadian yarn from Montreal so I’m not quite sure why this isn’t more widely available.
It is, without question, the softest and highest quality alpaca I have ever knit with. I knit a stripey sweater with my turqoise and silver last year and disappointedly found that while my swatch told me 24 sts/4″, it actually knit up to 22 sts/4″, so the sweater turned slightly big. (I have since learned my lesson. Swatches lie.) Fortunately I found a friend who could love and wear the sweater, but I had resolved to buy more.
I am so happy to have more of this yarn in my hands, again:) This time in a rich rich wine red.
And of course… who can turn down Fleece Artist. The yarn that first got me back into knitting 10 years ago after a long hiatus. I have always wanted a sheer mohair sweater in some combination of iridescent colours, but could never get past the itch. Even in the softest silk/kid blends. However, I felt this yarn in the knitted store sample and found to my surprise that it was tolerable. I am looking forward to this one! I just wish they had left the name of the colourway attached to the yarn. I’m dying to know what it is. The colourway names are usually the best part of Fleece Artist yarns. The yarn line is ‘Zambezi’:
