Saturday, August 2, 2008

A Shawl of Many, Many Colors...Noro of Course

How are all of your summers coming along? Not as miserably hot as ours in Texas I hope. Several days in a row of 100F plus temperatures have reduced me to a quivering lump of humanity, emptied my brain and drained my energy. One day my garden thermometer said 108F. The air was so dry you couldn't suck it into your lungs. Then after a couple of rumbling thunderstorms accompanied by a pathetic few raindrops, the heaviness of the humidity made it feel you could drown in plain air. Yes, it's true, I'm not a devoted fan of high temperatures.

Still managing to knit a tiny bit, although holding a lapful of wool is not the most pleasant sensation in stifling heat. But having been totally inspired by a wonderful Argosy Wrap (from In a Happy Camper) done in Noro Silk Garden draped over a rack at The Shabby Sheep, I came home and tossed out some stash and dove in. I'd been meaning to make this for years, in fact had challenged CelticMemory to join in with me last year. Of course, the colors I had in stash didn't work so well together, so I've actually frogged a couple of skeins back out of it. And since you probably know of my aversion to blue, you won't be surprised that I have removed whole sections of it from the skeins as I knit. In the photo, you see a little ball of extracted blue which is going to BookGrump, a worthy cause. It will end up decorating an Amigurumi of some sort, I'm sure.
Here is an early photo. I'm double this by now as it is a very addictive knit. I originally intended to use eight skeins, all different. But I couldn't begin to find eight skeins that would work together even after hitting two LYS. Argosy may have to marinate a bit until I can locate another skein or two without blue in them. Or much red. One of the skeins I frogged out was the most beautiful red but it totally clashed with the other colors and finally just had to come out. Stupidly, I forgot to take a photo before frogging all those skeins. It would have made an interesting study. My knitting group was pretty much laughing at me, but I knew it would always bother me, so out it came.

I thought this would be perfect travel knitting for an upcoming jaunt, but it seems not so much. It's getting heavy and a bit bulky, so I need to search for something else to take along. Not boring but not so complex I can't talk and knit. Not heavy for sure (thank you airlines). Seems that all my WIPs are at the wrong point of development to travel. Perhaps one of Knitspot's Little Nothings in a sock yarn would do the trick (how much do we love instant downloads?). Goodness knows I have the sock yarn for it.


There will be a follow-up report with my final decision, although around here a decision is never final.

7 comments:

Ambermoggie, a fragrant soul said...

truly stunning:)

Bea said...

I love that new argosy. Very very pretty.

Micki said...

You have to do what makes you happy, but I still think you're a little pathological. :) (ducks and hides)

Lynn said...

Would that make it a final-ish decision? It's gorgeous. And I'm with you on yanking out the blue. Gotta go work on my not-blue [pale teal] Juno.

bookgrump said...

I'm all too happy to benefit from your psychosis! Maybe more snowmen will be in my future!

In the meantime, I'll just admire your beautiful shawl. It's going to be stunning when you finish!

Jo at Celtic Memory Yarns said...

And indeed I hadn't forgotten about our twinning challenge on that gorgeous Argosy. We're perfectly matched in that you like anything that ISN'T blue and I love anything that IS - so quite happy to exchange balls of yarn back and forth.

But do I ever understand that difficulty of finding the right yarns to match up with each other to create the perfect whole. You think you have enough in the stash for a dozen such shawls, but when you audition them next to each other they shriek and sulk and hit out and you have to separate them into quiet rooms to calm down. And sometimes quite an unexpected colour will pop up, piping 'Use me and see what I can do.' Didn't Fluffbuff recommend the use of a magic eye kaleidoscope of some kind, to see how colours worked together? Seem to recall she did.

Hope the jaunt is to somewhere slightly cooler - fainting in horror at your very description of the Texan heat. And bring pure bamboo for socks - that should sort all difficulties.

Anonymous said...

I stumbled upon your blog and got caught up in it as you have such lovely things and make it so personal. Can relate to the cancer ordeal, but you WILL get better!! Keep producing your lovely things. My Dad is nearing 90 yrs and is in Plano, and one bro is in College Station; I live in CO now. (Where in the heart of TX? I am a Texas at heart)