Joji Locatelli and Madelintosh


This is Joji Locatelli’s Suburban Wrap, knit in Madelintosh Tosh Merino Light. I was gifted three skeins of this yarn. Gulp! I wanted to find a pattern that would do it justice and I believe I succeeded.

This wrap was a little hard to photograph. But it will be very easy to wear.

I thought the lace would be a challenge for me, but it worked out well.

Following the lead of a few others on Ravelry, I  knit the first stitch of each row instead of slipped it–mostly to help neaten the striped section edges. For me, that slip stitch as the yarn colors change ends up looking sloppy. Others manage it just fine. But I must not quite have the knack. Ok. It doesn’t help that occasionally I forget to slip and then you get that galumph on the edge.

As is true of others, I substituted a CDD (slip 2 together knitwise, knit one, pass the slipped stitches over) for the sk2p (slip 1, k2 together, pass slipped stitch over) that the lace section called for.

Thanks so much, good friend. The yarn was a joy to work with. Here’s my yarnie bouquet as it arrived from Jimmy Beans:

The yarn was so lovely to work with that I didn’t want any to languish in my oddments bin. Since I was on a Joji Locatelli roll, I decided to work up the rest of the yarn by knitting her long, tall Three-Color Cashmere Cowl with the remainder. Well, I needed to add one other yarn to get the required length. And Tosh Merino light is obviously not cashmere. So let’s just call this my More-Than-3-Color-Not Cashmere Cowl.

You know from my recent posts that orange and I are having a good run. I think my partial skein of Classic Elite Yuri was just the thing to make this cowl pop.

 

Yep, that does nicely.

Orange are the new cowls

This is Taiga Hilliard’s Alana cowl. It’s a very different knit for me. Way more fashion-forward that I’d usually mess with. This is not going to be a warm cowl and I am typically a utilitarian knitter. Oh, I suppose it could take the edge off office air conditioning. But I left the office behind more than 4 years ago. Even though I like this, it’s just not me and I’ll be gifting it to someone. But I haven’t yet figured out who. This was a quick, fun knit.

Another reason why this knit is different for me is that I knit Alana in Anzula Vera, a sport weight fiber mix I’ve never worked with before. It’s 65% silk with the remaining 35% described as “linen/flax.” I’ve never knit with an Anzula yarn that wasn’t a satisfying experience. Vera was deeply discounted. I gave it a try. My reaction to all silks is that it’s a very dry yarn to work with. Borrowing an expression I heard recently from the young plumber who worked on my water softener system, “dry as a popcorn fart.” That’s not a feel my hands like. As I knit I feel as if the yarn’s sucking out all the moisture from my hands. Still, the yarn was uniform, with no knots.

You may be wondering about this stitch pattern. That was a first for me and it’s what drew me to the pattern. I figured it was a dropped stitch pattern, but I had no idea how it was formed. I won’t spill all the beans. It combines an elongated stitch with a dropped stitch. You knit tightly compacted cables all across the rounds of the cowl. Then, on the last round–as you bind off– comes all the magic. With apologies for the color disconnect, that’s when this:

changes into this:

Next up is yet another Wolkig, this time in Sun Valley Fiber, an 80% merino, 10% cashmere goat, 10% nylon fingering weight.  It’s Martina Behm’s freebie pattern, available on Ravelry. I’ve knit it seven times and only have one Wolkig in my personal collection. When it comes to my holiday-pick-your-gift gathering this year, I’ll wager that this orange one won’t last long.

I am always pleased with the organic look that the super-simple Wolkig pattern produces. Check here for other Wolkigs I’ve knit. 

Orange are the new hats

As the weather heats up again, my knitting thoughts turn to orange. Well, to warm wintry hats also, coincidentally, orange. I know, it’s goofy.

This is yet another Chameleon Hat, Nicky Epstein’s classic pattern. You’ll have to search a bit for books containing the pattern, but it’s worth the search. I knit this version in Berroco Comfort. You can wear it slouchy or you can wear it rolled.

Or you can wear it folded. For more versions, scroll through here and here and here.  It’s such a fine pattern!

And It even passes the tidy crown decrease test.

This little burnt orange beauty is Aimee Alexander’s Sleepy Sunday Hat. It’s available on Ravelry and is sized from infant to adult large. My Ravatar is modelling it here.

I love the look on infants.

Again, it’s a multiple knit for me. This one is knit in Sugar Bush Yarns Crisp, a merino DK weight yarn that I much enjoyed working with.

The orange hat parade just doesn’t want to stop. This is Antelope Slouch Hat, Kelly McClure’s Ravelry freebie with more than 500 project pages. I decided to knit mine with the picot brim. Others decide to rib the hat.

Again, this hat includes a well-behaved crown. I knit this version in Rowan’s Pure Wool Superwash Worsted. Here’s a tri-color and a navy version. Plus one more.

So, when the weather heats up, think cool thoughts and knit warm hats. That’s what I do anyway.