Thursday, February 01, 2007

Fair Isle February

*blink blink blink*

Chris recently showed us some baby pictures of Little Kitty Mayhem, which got me to look back on some of my baby kitty Gandalf. Awwwww! Here he is discovering a brand new world from the inside. I love the look on his face, completely absorbed on whatever he's discovered.

OK. Enough distraction! You may have noticed the title of this entry - Fair Isle February. So, I uh, well, joined a KAL (Marina and Carrie K. did too!!). I'm technically not working on a Fair Isle right now, so I think I'm entitled...

Let's see - Amphora is stranded. Arangenser is cable. Elizabeth I is lace (well, kind of) and straight knitting. Western Seas is a pain in the...oops, I mean a gansey. And Dalarna is a Norwegian. See? No Fair Isle.

I've decided to work on the little known Alice Starmore design "Delores". It's from a VK issue from Fall 1994. There is a picture link that Marina sent me, however I haven't asked the blog author's permission to reprint the picture. But look! The magazine may have opened up to the picture somehow when I went to photograph my heavy wool socks I've been working on this week.
Hey! Look at that on the left. Next to the funky warm wool socks I'm making to wear with my hiking boots. I'm making them with leftover Peace Fleece on 4mm. The second one will be of the same colours, only different colour sequence.

(I just remembered something - I worked on the design on the right when the magazine first came out. One day I got into work only to discovere that my orange juice had exploded in my lunch bag, which was next to my knitting bag. Yes, I do believe I cried. I think I had almost completed the front. It was years before I attempted stranded knitting again... *sigh*)

I purchased the Jamieson's yarn for Delores from Anne at She Ewe Knits. It will actually be a little darker when it's completed. I'm looking forward to this challenge! There will be tears, no doubt. But when it's done? I think it'll be amazing!

And - if you're thinking I've abandoned the lovely Dalarna -
Yes. It's not much. But in my mind, the worst part is over - starting it up. I haven't had too much time to work on it, work...big project...won't leave me alone...blah blah blah. Which is why I was working on the socks, pretty mindless in between the e-mails and conference calls.
Hope your warm wherever you are!

9 comments:

Lorraine said...

Hi Bridge- I really like you socks, the colors are great.
What I found challenging about that sweater was the pointed fronts and the back slash. I never did finish mine.

She should call it something other than Delores.

Anonymous said...

I think you're over defining Fair Isle. Because I don't care what anyone says, Nygard & Mary T are going to count.

Those socks are cute! I like the colors. Oh and I DO have that mag!

So what is Gandalf like in his teenage years?

Chris said...

Um, really, I didn't have any idea that the color knitting world was so finely defined! ;)

That's a cute picture of Gandalf! I wonder if he has more the Chaos sort of face, more pointy? It sort of looks like that from his profile, but probably hard to tell from a kitten picture.

Anonymous said...

Wow, you're knitting socks! And particularly beautiful ones, I may add - love the colours! And how very interesting it was to read through your definitions - gave me something to think indeed!

Marina said...

Back off, guys ;-) I think that's a great reason to begin something!

Anonymous said...

Oh I have that magazine and love that sweater, it's on my eventual to do list.

Anonymous said...

Work...big project...blah blah blah, that sounds just like my week. By Tuesday afternoon I wanted to slam my head with the freezer door a few times.
I love the "sock", it looks like a cool project. I would really like to jump into the world of fair isle. I'd like to start small, like a hat or something.

Carrie said...

Oh, good luck with the KAL! The socks look really nice. Isn't it cold????

Anonymous said...

what kind of short row did you work on that heel ?? Nice job!!a