This is mostly a knitting blog. Sometimes pictures of things I've made, sometimes not. I'm a guy who knits, I usually attend a men's stitch 'n' bitch on Monday nights, and I prefer natural fibres to artificial ones. I have a love-hate relationship with bamboo yarns: I love what they can do and how they look, I hate how they are made. I've been knitting since about 2003, though I really didn't get into it until 2005, while convelescing with a broken leg. I must have discovered something good, 'cause I'm still knitting years later.

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Like Buttah!

Every now and then I have to remind myself that not everyone knits, not everyone know about fibre. Today I was showing my current project, which is being knit in Cascade Eco Duo, and said, "It's a blend of alpaca and merino," because of course, everyone knows what those things are. But now and then I'm met with the question, "Um, what's a merino?" What?? It's just one of the finest fibres out there, and knitting with merino is like knitting with butter. Like buttah!

It is not a secret that I am a yarn snob. I love the sensuousness of natural fibres. The softness of alpaca, the buttery goodness of merino (honestly, there is no other way I can describe knitting with merino, than the words, like butter), the softness of Rowan's blue faced leicestershire from their British Sheep Breed Yarns. Yarns from various breeds differ in so many ways, and I want to knit a sweater in each of the yarns offered in the series. Or maybe I should make sweaters with stripes from various yarns in the collection. Oh hell, why not go out whole hog, and just make all the damn sweaters. I live in New England, so of course I need a lot of sweaters!

For me, when I'm knitting a yarn, the feel of it is really important to me. I think this is why I could never knit with acryllic, since it feels like plastic and just doesn't smell right. I love the sheepy smell of some of the yarns I have in my stash, I love it when I come across a piece of bracken, a twig, a piece of grass, in the yarn I'm knitting. I know that this was on a living animal, that it grew organically, and was not spun from something that was pumped out of an oil well. The other day I was showing a friend my yarn stash (hey, she asked to see it!) and I rediscovered some yarn I got at Quarter Stitch the last time I was in New Orleans. Baby suri alpaca/silk/bamboo, this stuff is so soft that I can't think of a project that is worthy of it. I got three skeins of it, and I just love to look at it and smell it.

Currently, my favourite is Malabrigo. I love the colours of the Rios superwash yarn, they're so intense and inviting. I love the Azul Profundo, the Paris Night, and the Purpuras. Gorgeous! I want to make sweaters, or at least vests, in each of these. Hell, all the colours are gorgeous! A vest with each of them!

The following pictures are from the Malabrigo website, showing the three colours I mentioned above. This is why I have to find a job: to add these gorgeous yarns to my stash!
Azul Profundo


Paris Night


Purpuras
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