Marriage of Unequals

I started the colourwork of my tunic. (Finally got through the seven inches of plain knitting across the body and sleeves. That was a chore.)

I'm not sure how it's going to work out. The cream alpaca is a little thinner than the grey which isn't necessarily such a big deal. But it's also so much smoother and "slippery-er." In addition, it doesn't have the stretch which helps colourwork work out.

So we have:
Cream
thinner
no stretch
smooth/slippery
Grey
thicker
has give
"sticky" (like velcro, not like honey)







The grey has all the attributes you want in a wool for colourwork. The cream none. No wait, the cream has a nice halo. That's lovely in colourwork.

It's been a challenge to get the pattern to come out even. You have to be right on with a yarn like that; it's not forgiving at all. Plus this design, being an "oversize" fair isle pattern, has long sections of a single colour. Because the cream alpaca is what it is, I can't catch the long floats between stitches--the grey shows right through. So I'm trying to get it done with long floats. If they become a problem, I can always sew them down after the fact.

All these issues have moved this project definitely outside of "comfort knitting." This (and the onset of "Socktober") have slowed progress considerably. But it hasn't stopped completely.

Can I become master of the wool and make it do my bidding, or will I be defeated? We shall see...