WIDTY [the day before] Y: The Yarn, Part 2

I first came across Carol Sunday of  Sunday Knits at Stitches Midwest 2010.  The Princess and I spent a fair bit of time in lust-inspired awe of the patterns and the yarn, but ultimately couldn't decide and sadly came away Sunday-Knits-less.  What really stuck in my memory, though, was one of the sweaters.  You can see it here, but I have to tell you,  that washed out blue doesn't do it justice.  At Stitches she had a sample knit in a deep brown - so much better suited to a pattern called Acorns.

 Anyway.  Fast-forward six months. I bought the pattern from Twist Collective's Fall 2010 issue and gave myself the yarn kit for The Princess' birthday (in brown - Angelic 5-ply  in Clove to be precise) to knit for her (someday).  It will be a long-term project, one that will probably take years until completion because I am actually still a little intimidated by the memory of the beauty of the sample.

Meanwhile, back at Embellished Squares.

The more I looked at the pattern photos, the more I realized I wanted to mimic the stripes the designer had incorporated. Since I had chosen a variegated yarn for the main color, it made sense (to me at least and it's my blanket) to use a solid or semi-solid for the contrast. I really did mean to knit from stash, but the blues made the yarn too green, greens made the yarn too monochromatic, the browns made the yarn too gray, the reds were too harsh or too purple.

Then I remembered the email from Knitche announcing the addition of Sunday Knits yarn to their inventory.  I decided that if I wasn't going to knit from stash, I could at least knit local (Sunday Knits is an Illinois concern).  The Pirate had a day off, which meant I didn't have to watch the clock for his bus, and off we went.

That's Eden (merino and cashmere) in Wren (the lighter) and Twig and Nirvana (merino) in Raisin.  Knitche only had the colors in the 3-ply, and only one of each color at that.   The original plan was to take them home, compare them with the main color, choose one and then order that color directly from Sunday Knits.

Two problems.  I really liked all three colors and the 3-ply is pretty much sock yarn - way too thin. Okay, three problems. Carol Sunday doesn't carry nearly as many colors in the 5-ply versions. 

I decided to use all three colors, ordered one more of each in the 3-ply and am double stranding.  These are only 50g skeins.  I'm a little concerned I may run out. Then again, maybe that will be my signal to start the massive garter stitch border.  There's clearly plenty of the Wistful.