Preparations for a Vest (and a Class)

I made a trip to Red Purl today. Had to get out for a bit. Had to take a drive in the glorious sunshine. Also couldn't wait a minute longer to wind the wool I bought about a week ago.

So I bought these two skeins of wool from Estonia

last week but didn't take the time to wind them at the time. Then I had to look at them at home realizing that I couldn't actually work with them because they weren't wound yet. Very frustrating!

They might look like a variegated colourway, but that's not quite true. Instead of changing colours every so many inches, one colour goes on for yards and yards before changing to the next colour. So as you knit you get wide stripes of consecutive colours.

I'm planning to use it for a patterned vest and it's going to make it look like I changed colours all the time, when really I worked from one ball and it did the work for me. (It's similar to self-striping sock yarns, although in the sock yarns the colours change much more often.) It's a great trick for making yourself look very talented while doing a simple fair isle!

I've been gloating to myself about this wool every time I've looked at it for the past week, and really couldn't wait another minute to roll it into balls, and then perhaps start my swatch. (Oh, I can't wait...)

Can you see the stripes in the ball?

How it changes from light in the center, to dark, to light, to dark, etc? This will be the "main" colour in the vest and will be used for the waist, armhole and neck ribbing. I'll have to see how I get the two arms to match...hmmm, something to consider as I go.

And then the one I really love:
Green to purple to orange a couple times. Amy has a sample knit up in this colourway and I just love it. It's going to be so fun to work with!

I think the two colours will play well together:
We'll have to see how the light and dark variations of the grey play against the more drastic colour changes of the other. Always an adventure!

And while I was at Red Purl and we had some time to talk, Amy and I picked some dates for the class I am going to teach. Oh yes! Hadn't I mentioned it? I am going to be teaching my first class at Red Purl to show you how to make a Better Plastic Bag for yourself! Look for details soon at Red Purl's website.

Maybe I'll see you there,

christina