The vest is all knitted, and is being blocked as I type! I stayed up till midnight to get the last bit done so that it can dry overnight and I can stitch it up tomorrow. Pictures some day.
Now I can wear it in chilly San Francisco next week. And...I can start on the socks! Tee hee.
Friday, April 13, 2007
Saturday, April 7, 2007
I have succumbed...
to the sock-knitting siren. Or at least the buying-of-supplies-for-sock-knitting siren. A few weeks ago I bought a whole book of sock patterns, and then I also bought Cat Bordhi's over-rated book on knitting socks with 2 long circular needles. And I have the Yarn-Harlot's book, which includes generic instructions for a basic sock. So it was inevitable that I would have to buy needles and yarn soon.
Today was the day! Kristen went yarn shopping in Chicago and is hard at work on a felted Rubik's Cube intarsia bag. And I'm still plugging away on my double moss stitch vest. Sigh. So I decided to stop by Let's Knit just to look at needles. Just to lift my spirits. And I ended up buying 2 bamboo size 3 needles (29" each) and 2 skeins of Patons Kroy Socks Jacquard yarn. Total damages, $28. That's a lot for a pair of socks!! That don't exist yet and may never exist!
But what could I do? I was helpless! And then I swatched, the cunningest little swatch you ever saw, 1" by 2", and it is love at first sight. The yarn is sherbety shades of pink, orange and soft green, intersperced with grey and white flecked sections.
So now this is to serve as motivation. I am not allowed to cast on the socks until the vest is done, or I might live forever with a 3/4 finished vest. So on to finish the vest ASAP so that I can experience the joys of sock-knitting! Help me God. Amen.
Today was the day! Kristen went yarn shopping in Chicago and is hard at work on a felted Rubik's Cube intarsia bag. And I'm still plugging away on my double moss stitch vest. Sigh. So I decided to stop by Let's Knit just to look at needles. Just to lift my spirits. And I ended up buying 2 bamboo size 3 needles (29" each) and 2 skeins of Patons Kroy Socks Jacquard yarn. Total damages, $28. That's a lot for a pair of socks!! That don't exist yet and may never exist!
But what could I do? I was helpless! And then I swatched, the cunningest little swatch you ever saw, 1" by 2", and it is love at first sight. The yarn is sherbety shades of pink, orange and soft green, intersperced with grey and white flecked sections.
So now this is to serve as motivation. I am not allowed to cast on the socks until the vest is done, or I might live forever with a 3/4 finished vest. So on to finish the vest ASAP so that I can experience the joys of sock-knitting! Help me God. Amen.
Friday, April 6, 2007
Things to Knit by
Not things to buy and knit, you understand. No, things to knit by. Meaning, things to do while also knitting. Now, I know some people can knit in movie theatres, and some people can watch DVDs and knit. But I am a newbie who has to actually look at what I am knitting. So although I can certainly knit while a baseball game is on tv, I find that I am either going to mess up my (simple) pattern or not really follow the plot of anything more demanding than Ugly Betty. So my mind-amusement of choice while knitting is something that is meant to be listened to rather than watched.
An obvious choice, of course, is the radio. I love npr, and it is really fun to listen to A Prairie Home Companion or This American Life while I knit. But the timing of those shows is not always conducive to my knitting life. And just when I have a couple of free hours of a weekend evening, KPCC is likely to be broadcasting some colossal bore like Michael Feldman's "Whaddya Know? Not Much," whose quirky charm entirely escapes me.
Then it dawned on me: I've been hearing the word "podcast" and had some vague idea that it was like radio only on your own schedule. Could that be the answer? But I don't own an iPod--does that leave me out of the loop? Ah, no, it does not. If I have a computer and a speaker, as I do, I can download podcasts and listen to them through my computer. And what luck--my computer speakers are right next to my comfy chair and the best light in the house!
So off I go to look for podcasts. My first stop is A Prairie Home Companion, and yes, they do allow me to subscribe to the monologue News from Lake Wobegon, but that's only 15 to 20 minutes long. Conveniently, however, that download points me to other podcasts that people like me have chosen, and I soon add Irish and Celtic music to my mix. And then! I find that there are entire hour long podcasts devoted entirely to knitting and knitters!
Cast-on (http://www.cast-on.com/)is the only such podcast that I have given a spin so far, and it will keep my mind and ears occupied for quite some time, since there are at least 46 hour-long podcasts already in the waiting list! Brenda Dayne is the mind and voice of cast-on, and she sounds to be an American woman now living and knitting in Wales. Her podcast is very professionally put together, with reviews, interviews, general conversation, and bits of appealing music in between.
A list of other likely-looking knitting podcasts can be found at http://www.knittingneels.com/index.php/?p=22
Since I found that the technical skills to acquire a podcast were well within my reach (they just arrange themselves in iTunes, in the podcast category, and iTunes was already on my computer--whether automatically or because Kristen downloaded it, I don't know.) The iTunes store has lists of music and podcasts that are either free or available for a price. It's totally simple.
Then another idea occurred to me: The Teaching Company. I get their catalogs, since I once ordered a set of VCR tapes on Calculus (which remains in like-new condition, I might add...) and a lot of their topics sounds moderately interesting. But I never got around to ordering a $49.95 set of CDs of The History of Early Britain and other captivating topics. Have they perhaps moved into the digital download stage? Indeed they have! And while many of their series cost over $50 (ie enough money to cut into one's yarn budget), there was a series of 12 half-hour lectures on the Probelm of Consciousness for $19.95 that could be ordered and downloaded in one easy step. So I did it. These located themselves on my desktop, and when I click on them, they open in the music section of iTunes, which is ok except that when each 30 minute segment is over, a random tune from Kristen's collection follows hot on its heels. It's kind of odd to move from lecture hall to Europop so seamlessly.
The lectures are also fairly dry. There is a smattering of applause at the start of each lecture, but there's no indication that these were actual lectures delivered to an actual audience. Instead, the professor simply reads his lecture, and his writing style is much more written than conversational in tone. But I paid my money and I'll get my (belated) education. And maybe I'll try a series on the story of human language in the future. But compared to free, these are a little steep.
And this leads me to the question of whether I might listen to books on tape (actually on CD). I kind of doubt it. I did listen to some books on tape back when I was commuting to grad school back in Chicago. But I prefer to read my books the old-fashioned way, I think. Radio is a different medium than reading, and the podcasts are actually more enjoyable than the philosophy lectures (duh!)
Anyhow, the upshot of all this good stuff to knit by is that I have finished the first front for my vest, and it is now drying on a thick layer of towel in the computer/knitting room! One more segment to go and my first actual adult-size garment will be complete. The front went much more smoothly than the back, because I really do understand the pattern now. And after several tries, I finally figured out that instead of trying to decrease for the shaping of the armholes, I could just bind-off. (Actually that didn't go completely smoothly, because I didn't quite grasp that one should bind off only at the start of a row and not at the end. But I got it straightened out.
So now I'm on Spring Break and willl make at least a good start on the second front piece (the first took 2 weeks)--so in 2 weeks or less, I should have the thing finished. Just in time for spring weather, which is not exactly conducive to wool sweaters. But maybe it will be a cool spring, who knows?
An obvious choice, of course, is the radio. I love npr, and it is really fun to listen to A Prairie Home Companion or This American Life while I knit. But the timing of those shows is not always conducive to my knitting life. And just when I have a couple of free hours of a weekend evening, KPCC is likely to be broadcasting some colossal bore like Michael Feldman's "Whaddya Know? Not Much," whose quirky charm entirely escapes me.
Then it dawned on me: I've been hearing the word "podcast" and had some vague idea that it was like radio only on your own schedule. Could that be the answer? But I don't own an iPod--does that leave me out of the loop? Ah, no, it does not. If I have a computer and a speaker, as I do, I can download podcasts and listen to them through my computer. And what luck--my computer speakers are right next to my comfy chair and the best light in the house!
So off I go to look for podcasts. My first stop is A Prairie Home Companion, and yes, they do allow me to subscribe to the monologue News from Lake Wobegon, but that's only 15 to 20 minutes long. Conveniently, however, that download points me to other podcasts that people like me have chosen, and I soon add Irish and Celtic music to my mix. And then! I find that there are entire hour long podcasts devoted entirely to knitting and knitters!
Cast-on (http://www.cast-on.com/)is the only such podcast that I have given a spin so far, and it will keep my mind and ears occupied for quite some time, since there are at least 46 hour-long podcasts already in the waiting list! Brenda Dayne is the mind and voice of cast-on, and she sounds to be an American woman now living and knitting in Wales. Her podcast is very professionally put together, with reviews, interviews, general conversation, and bits of appealing music in between.
A list of other likely-looking knitting podcasts can be found at http://www.knittingneels.com/index.php/?p=22
Since I found that the technical skills to acquire a podcast were well within my reach (they just arrange themselves in iTunes, in the podcast category, and iTunes was already on my computer--whether automatically or because Kristen downloaded it, I don't know.) The iTunes store has lists of music and podcasts that are either free or available for a price. It's totally simple.
Then another idea occurred to me: The Teaching Company. I get their catalogs, since I once ordered a set of VCR tapes on Calculus (which remains in like-new condition, I might add...) and a lot of their topics sounds moderately interesting. But I never got around to ordering a $49.95 set of CDs of The History of Early Britain and other captivating topics. Have they perhaps moved into the digital download stage? Indeed they have! And while many of their series cost over $50 (ie enough money to cut into one's yarn budget), there was a series of 12 half-hour lectures on the Probelm of Consciousness for $19.95 that could be ordered and downloaded in one easy step. So I did it. These located themselves on my desktop, and when I click on them, they open in the music section of iTunes, which is ok except that when each 30 minute segment is over, a random tune from Kristen's collection follows hot on its heels. It's kind of odd to move from lecture hall to Europop so seamlessly.
The lectures are also fairly dry. There is a smattering of applause at the start of each lecture, but there's no indication that these were actual lectures delivered to an actual audience. Instead, the professor simply reads his lecture, and his writing style is much more written than conversational in tone. But I paid my money and I'll get my (belated) education. And maybe I'll try a series on the story of human language in the future. But compared to free, these are a little steep.
And this leads me to the question of whether I might listen to books on tape (actually on CD). I kind of doubt it. I did listen to some books on tape back when I was commuting to grad school back in Chicago. But I prefer to read my books the old-fashioned way, I think. Radio is a different medium than reading, and the podcasts are actually more enjoyable than the philosophy lectures (duh!)
Anyhow, the upshot of all this good stuff to knit by is that I have finished the first front for my vest, and it is now drying on a thick layer of towel in the computer/knitting room! One more segment to go and my first actual adult-size garment will be complete. The front went much more smoothly than the back, because I really do understand the pattern now. And after several tries, I finally figured out that instead of trying to decrease for the shaping of the armholes, I could just bind-off. (Actually that didn't go completely smoothly, because I didn't quite grasp that one should bind off only at the start of a row and not at the end. But I got it straightened out.
So now I'm on Spring Break and willl make at least a good start on the second front piece (the first took 2 weeks)--so in 2 weeks or less, I should have the thing finished. Just in time for spring weather, which is not exactly conducive to wool sweaters. But maybe it will be a cool spring, who knows?
Saturday, March 31, 2007
The pattern--a book review
The pattern for the Celtic Seas Vest comes from a book called 25 Gorgeous Sweaters for the Brand-New Knitter by Catherine Ham (Lark Books, 2000) At $17.95 it's quite reasonable (and at $14.00 new and as low as $4.19 used at amazon, it's an even better bargain.
http://www.amazon.com/Gorgeous-Sweaters-Brand-New-Knitter-Sophisticated/dp/1579901727/ref=si3_rdr_bb_product/104-0778110-7397515
The pattern is not called Celtic Seas Vest--I made that up, in honor of the Celtic-looking clasp I plan to put on it and the ocean-y colors of the Kureyon yarn. It's actually called Shawl Collar Vest. There's also a pattern called Shawl Collar Jacket done in garter stitch that's designed the same way.
The book includes simple patterns for 10 women's sweater, 4 vests, and 5 kids sweaters or vests, and most of them look both do-able and wearable.
One negative is that in order to keep them simple enough for the brand-new knitter, there is minimal shaping. I added decreases to my pattern in order to narrow the shoulders a bit. The original is basically just a square, and when I made a mock-up out of a piece of fleece, I could see that the shoulder look wasn't all that flattering. Most of the finished objects in the book are displayed either flat or on a clothes-rack, so the wide shoulders look ok, but on a real person, especially a person with hips, the angular look may not work out quite so well.
The sweaters with sleeves are all dropped-shoulder as well, which does make them easy to knit, but is not exactly high-style these days. But there are many ideas of how to adapt and adjust the patterns, and I think I will make a couple more sweaters from this book before I exhaust its usefulness.
http://www.amazon.com/Gorgeous-Sweaters-Brand-New-Knitter-Sophisticated/dp/1579901727/ref=si3_rdr_bb_product/104-0778110-7397515
The pattern is not called Celtic Seas Vest--I made that up, in honor of the Celtic-looking clasp I plan to put on it and the ocean-y colors of the Kureyon yarn. It's actually called Shawl Collar Vest. There's also a pattern called Shawl Collar Jacket done in garter stitch that's designed the same way.
The book includes simple patterns for 10 women's sweater, 4 vests, and 5 kids sweaters or vests, and most of them look both do-able and wearable.
One negative is that in order to keep them simple enough for the brand-new knitter, there is minimal shaping. I added decreases to my pattern in order to narrow the shoulders a bit. The original is basically just a square, and when I made a mock-up out of a piece of fleece, I could see that the shoulder look wasn't all that flattering. Most of the finished objects in the book are displayed either flat or on a clothes-rack, so the wide shoulders look ok, but on a real person, especially a person with hips, the angular look may not work out quite so well.
The sweaters with sleeves are all dropped-shoulder as well, which does make them easy to knit, but is not exactly high-style these days. But there are many ideas of how to adapt and adjust the patterns, and I think I will make a couple more sweaters from this book before I exhaust its usefulness.
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Celtic Seas Vest coming into its own!
I have been busily knitting away on the back of the vest which I have christened Celtic Seas, and last night I bound off the shoulders.
To wit:
I am very happy with it so far. It seems like the size is going to be right, and the colors and texture are really pleasing. I soaked it in cool water for a few moments and then blocked it. When it got wet, it emitted a rather alarming odor (wet dog? wet sheep??) But once it dried, the smell was gone. So the moral of that is, don't wear this in the rain! However, dampening it did soften the texture nicely. The yarn as it comes off the skein is rather earthy and primitive feeling, but it settles down some as you handle it while knitting and it settles down even more when it's been wet blocked.
I also really like the textured stitch pattern:
It took me a while to fully understand the pattern. The book calls it "box stitch," but I prefer another term: double moss stitch. It's basically
KK PP KK PP KK
KK PP KK PP KK
PP KK PP KK PP
PP KK PP KK PP
But you need to start on the second row rather than the first in order to get it to come out right. And you alternate between knitting the purls and knitting the knits:
KK (knit the knits)
KK (knit the purls)
PP (purl the knits)
PP (purl the purls)
And you need to cast on a multiple of 4 plus 2 extra.
But it makes a nice flat fabric which is exactly the same on both sides, and which has an interesting amount of texture. I'm thinking of trying it on a dish-cloth in cotton to see how the texture works for that. It seems basically kind of "scrubby."
So now I've cast on the first front side, but I realize that the self-striping will turn out completely different. Even on the back, when I decreased for the arm-holes, the width of the stripes changed noticeably. But that is the nature of the yarn, so I am determined not to let it bother me. I really like the way it subtly changes colors. It took me 3 weeks to make the back, and the fronts should take maybe a little less, if I don't get confused and have to spend time figuring things out again. Ha.
Kristen goes back to Chicago tomorrow around noon. We had a great time while she was home. And she ordered Cash-soft yarn online at a great discount and had it shipped to Chicago, so when she gets back, she will have a go at knitting a sweater. She found out her grades today, and she had an A, A- and B+, which was better than feared, so she can once again go back a happy camper. Spring term is sure to be more enjoyable than winter term was.
To wit:
I am very happy with it so far. It seems like the size is going to be right, and the colors and texture are really pleasing. I soaked it in cool water for a few moments and then blocked it. When it got wet, it emitted a rather alarming odor (wet dog? wet sheep??) But once it dried, the smell was gone. So the moral of that is, don't wear this in the rain! However, dampening it did soften the texture nicely. The yarn as it comes off the skein is rather earthy and primitive feeling, but it settles down some as you handle it while knitting and it settles down even more when it's been wet blocked.
I also really like the textured stitch pattern:
It took me a while to fully understand the pattern. The book calls it "box stitch," but I prefer another term: double moss stitch. It's basically
KK PP KK PP KK
KK PP KK PP KK
PP KK PP KK PP
PP KK PP KK PP
But you need to start on the second row rather than the first in order to get it to come out right. And you alternate between knitting the purls and knitting the knits:
KK (knit the knits)
KK (knit the purls)
PP (purl the knits)
PP (purl the purls)
And you need to cast on a multiple of 4 plus 2 extra.
But it makes a nice flat fabric which is exactly the same on both sides, and which has an interesting amount of texture. I'm thinking of trying it on a dish-cloth in cotton to see how the texture works for that. It seems basically kind of "scrubby."
So now I've cast on the first front side, but I realize that the self-striping will turn out completely different. Even on the back, when I decreased for the arm-holes, the width of the stripes changed noticeably. But that is the nature of the yarn, so I am determined not to let it bother me. I really like the way it subtly changes colors. It took me 3 weeks to make the back, and the fronts should take maybe a little less, if I don't get confused and have to spend time figuring things out again. Ha.
Kristen goes back to Chicago tomorrow around noon. We had a great time while she was home. And she ordered Cash-soft yarn online at a great discount and had it shipped to Chicago, so when she gets back, she will have a go at knitting a sweater. She found out her grades today, and she had an A, A- and B+, which was better than feared, so she can once again go back a happy camper. Spring term is sure to be more enjoyable than winter term was.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Baby Yoda Sweater
Beautiful Baby Pru models the Baby Yoda sweater! Thanks to Pru's Mom for forwarding this lovely picture to me.
Sunday, March 4, 2007
Yarn Shopping
Christine and Teresa arranged for a full day of yarn shopping--aka as SEX (Stash Enhancement Expedition.) We met at 9:30 am at Let's Knit in Gardena. I wanted to do most of my actual buying there, since that is my trusty LYS (Local Yarn Shop)--the place where I can get emergency needles at 4 pm on a Saturday afternoon, and because I suppose that Mrs. Oyama needs my business more than a fancy-dancy shop in Santa Monica does. So I had my pattern all ready--a shawl collar vest for myself in size large. I made a mock-up of it from a piece of fleece, to assure myself that it will fit. I already have the clasp that will hold it closed. All I needed was the yarn. And I pictured lovely flowing colors. So I rather quickly settled on Noro's Kureyon. I was tempted by Noro's Silk Garden, but that was even more expensive-- $11 a ball. Kureyon was bad enough at $8.50. Then I was a bit shocked to find that I needed 9 balls. Even with a generous 10% discount, that still came to $68.85. Yeouch! I had better do a good job on this vest, and wear it with joy for at least 10 years!! 
I also picked up 4 balls of emerald green yarn in a cashmere/silk/merino blend, mainly because it was so soft and 50% off. It will make a beautiful scarf when I decide to learn how to make a simple cable. Nancy Terasaki showed us the scarf she completed--from the same pink merino I used for my hat--with a beautiful cable down the middle. It is beautiful, and inspired me to think that a simple shape such as a scarf is a good place to learn cabling. I think I will do that instead of the shawl with cabled pockets that I had in mind. Less overall knitting and more cabling. that should be do-able.
Next we went to Santa Monica and the nicest of all the yarn shops on our itinerary: Wildfiber. Spacious, wood floors, bins and bins of every kind of gourgeous fiber imaginable--from alpaca to linen. I was sorely tempted to buy some lovely soft sock yarn, but I resisted. I am not ready to knit socks yet and I know it. And the $70 vest will keep me busy for quite some time. And sock yarn will be there when I am ready for it. I am thinking that before next winter, Kristen could use a pair of wool socks for the Chicago winters to come. Maybe over the summer, when she's home and her foot is available for measuring, I will work on that. I did buy a skein of periwinkle colored Brown Sheep bulky, with a felted bowl in mind. Maybe this time I'll follow the directions and get an actual bowl shape!
We also visited another shop also in Santa Monica I think, called something like Knit from the Heart, that specializes in knitting for charity. More homey than Wildfiber, but not as exciting.
Then we drove to El Segundo (which involved being in a scary old van on the scary 105 ovepass, which has distressingly low sides while making swooping curves. Good think I wasn't driving!). We had lunch at a Philipino/Chinese/Vegetarian restaurant with a French name: Papillon. All strange, but it was good. And we ended our expedition at Slipt Stitch, which is close enough to home that I might stop by there sometime again. Again I almost succumbed to the sock knitting siren, but again I resisted. I bought a row counter instead.
So I came home and fired up the needles I got for $1.50 at Marukai, and knit an actual swatch. This is the first time I've swatched, but it's also the first time I spent serious money and the first garment for myself that I am knitting. The swatch seemed way off, so I went back to Let's Knit (thank God for LYS, eh?) to try to buy size 101/2 needles, since I thought I was using 10s. Come to find out, I had Japanese size 10, which is much smaller than American size 10s. So I didn't need 101/2 after all, I needed a real size 9.
I have about 5 rows done on the back--96 stitches per row. The pattern is simple enough--a box pattern that is like a broken 2 x 2 rib. So far so good, and I think that even if I mess up a knit or purl here or there, it won't make a big difference, as it does in straight rows of ribbing. But I am a little concerned about Kureyon (which, incidently, when pronounced by Japanese ladies seems to mean Crayon. Try it.) It is quite a rough wool. The colors are delightful, but the texture is quite rough. I knew that, but I read that it softens when washed. So I washed the swatch, and it does indeed seem a lot softer. And a vest will always be worn over a turtleneck, so it doesn't need to be soft against my skin. So I think it will be good when it's finished. But it's a little less than a joy to work with. I hope that this won't discourage me from enjoying my first sweater throughout the process. Nothing else has as pretty colors, except perhaps Manos de ...where? Uruguay? Something like that. It also has gourgeous colors, but it's also very rough to the touch.
Well, I now have my work cut out for me, so off to knit for a while!
I also picked up 4 balls of emerald green yarn in a cashmere/silk/merino blend, mainly because it was so soft and 50% off. It will make a beautiful scarf when I decide to learn how to make a simple cable. Nancy Terasaki showed us the scarf she completed--from the same pink merino I used for my hat--with a beautiful cable down the middle. It is beautiful, and inspired me to think that a simple shape such as a scarf is a good place to learn cabling. I think I will do that instead of the shawl with cabled pockets that I had in mind. Less overall knitting and more cabling. that should be do-able.
Next we went to Santa Monica and the nicest of all the yarn shops on our itinerary: Wildfiber. Spacious, wood floors, bins and bins of every kind of gourgeous fiber imaginable--from alpaca to linen. I was sorely tempted to buy some lovely soft sock yarn, but I resisted. I am not ready to knit socks yet and I know it. And the $70 vest will keep me busy for quite some time. And sock yarn will be there when I am ready for it. I am thinking that before next winter, Kristen could use a pair of wool socks for the Chicago winters to come. Maybe over the summer, when she's home and her foot is available for measuring, I will work on that. I did buy a skein of periwinkle colored Brown Sheep bulky, with a felted bowl in mind. Maybe this time I'll follow the directions and get an actual bowl shape!
We also visited another shop also in Santa Monica I think, called something like Knit from the Heart, that specializes in knitting for charity. More homey than Wildfiber, but not as exciting.
Then we drove to El Segundo (which involved being in a scary old van on the scary 105 ovepass, which has distressingly low sides while making swooping curves. Good think I wasn't driving!). We had lunch at a Philipino/Chinese/Vegetarian restaurant with a French name: Papillon. All strange, but it was good. And we ended our expedition at Slipt Stitch, which is close enough to home that I might stop by there sometime again. Again I almost succumbed to the sock knitting siren, but again I resisted. I bought a row counter instead.
So I came home and fired up the needles I got for $1.50 at Marukai, and knit an actual swatch. This is the first time I've swatched, but it's also the first time I spent serious money and the first garment for myself that I am knitting. The swatch seemed way off, so I went back to Let's Knit (thank God for LYS, eh?) to try to buy size 101/2 needles, since I thought I was using 10s. Come to find out, I had Japanese size 10, which is much smaller than American size 10s. So I didn't need 101/2 after all, I needed a real size 9.
I have about 5 rows done on the back--96 stitches per row. The pattern is simple enough--a box pattern that is like a broken 2 x 2 rib. So far so good, and I think that even if I mess up a knit or purl here or there, it won't make a big difference, as it does in straight rows of ribbing. But I am a little concerned about Kureyon (which, incidently, when pronounced by Japanese ladies seems to mean Crayon. Try it.) It is quite a rough wool. The colors are delightful, but the texture is quite rough. I knew that, but I read that it softens when washed. So I washed the swatch, and it does indeed seem a lot softer. And a vest will always be worn over a turtleneck, so it doesn't need to be soft against my skin. So I think it will be good when it's finished. But it's a little less than a joy to work with. I hope that this won't discourage me from enjoying my first sweater throughout the process. Nothing else has as pretty colors, except perhaps Manos de ...where? Uruguay? Something like that. It also has gourgeous colors, but it's also very rough to the touch.
Well, I now have my work cut out for me, so off to knit for a while!
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