Tart Berries & Honey - Beauty Shots

I took advantage of the sun to get some beauty shots of Tart Berries & Honey.  I really love how this shawl came out.  It is light and drapey and the colors are just so luscious.  Sometimes the design is the star, and sometimes it is the yarn.  This time it is definitely the yarn.

Tart Berries & Honey - Finished!

I called this shawl Tart Berries & Honey because Tart Berries & Gold Mustard just didn't sound very appetizing.  I had two reasons for knitting this shawl, one was to use up some beautiful yarn in a way that would show it off, the other was to test my theory that you don't have to do the transition rows when switching from one skein to the next of a gradiance colorway.

When I started knitting with the gradiance colorways I did not set out to challenge the accepted practice, but by nature I am an optimizer and I am always trying to figure out the best way to do things, and that means you cannot be afraid to challenge accepted practice.  It is not easy to do, and I still have to remind myself to not just follow instructions or tradition without at least thinking about it.  So maybe there is some Buddhism in there too, in the form of mindfulness, knowing what you are doing and why you are doing it.  I first started questioning the transition rows when I noticed that they actually introduced discontinuities in the color transitions because it was impossible to match the colors of the two skeins when you switched them in the transition.  Sure, you could match that first switch, but any subsequent matches were pure luck, unless you were willing to cut your yarn, and there were enough ends to weave in already without adding any more.  The more I thought about it, the more strongly I felt that, given the unique dyeing technique that is used, you could just let the yarn do all of the work for you.

So, here is my test case.  I knit the Through the Looking Glass Shawl with transition rows, and Tart Berries & Honey without.  Same colorway, different techniques.  Why yes, I do have a science background.

Are the color transitions in Tart Berries & Honey more orderly and less stripey?  Yes, I think they are, but both are beautiful.  So, in the end I guess it all comes down to preference.

The yarn is Luxe, by The Unique Sheep, in Tart Berries and Gold Mustard.

Project Updates

I spent most of last week working on this shawl, which I am calling Tart Berries & Honey.  It uses up the rest of the Tart Berries gradiance colorway that I had left over from my Through the Looking Glass shawl.  For the border I grabbed the leftovers from my Golden Phoenix.  I am almost halfway through the border.  The yarn is Luxe, by The Unique Sheep.

I also finally cast on the latest offering from the Light and Dark Lace Club, the Forever shawl by Ruth Greenwald.  It is knit in Pelusa Lace from Zen Yarn Garden in the Scarlet Letter colorway.  I can only work on this one when I have really good natural light, even my Ott light by my knitting spot doesn't quite cut it by itself.  I am not sure why, but on this one I have trouble reading my lace.  I am thinking it is a combination of the dark color and the texture of the yarn, which is kind of curly.  I am about halfway through the first clue.  The knitting is pretty easy, and I like the wider edging and central spine.  The second clue has already come out, but this group is pretty easy going, so I don't feel any pressure to finish this clue quickly.  I am thinking about adding some beads to the second clue.

I have also been working on my Lorna Suzanne cardigan.  I have about 6 inches of the body done.  The yarn is Superwash Worsted by Zen Yarn Garden in Midnight Plum.  It looks very purple in this picture, but it can look very much like dark red plums.  It really shows the berries in the lace motif, and I love the slight variegation of the color.  I am using my new Addi Lace clicks with the longer needles and I love them.  I have a set of the original Addi Lace Clicks, but the fact that the needles were shorter than the standard length that I am used to bothered me, and they feel a bit awkward when I use them.  I am planning on using the shorter needles when I join the sleeves to the body, though.  I think they will make it easier to knit those first couple of rows where it is a bit tight getting around the sleeves.

Yesterday afternoon and evening I pulled out my beads and worked on this project, which I started a long, long time ago (last year sometime?).  The project is the Edelweiss Necklace by Melinda Barta, in the October/November 2009 edition of Beadwork Magazine.  When I picked this back up again yesterday I had about 2 inches of the herringbone, now I have about 8 inches.