Sunday, November 25, 2007

FEATHER N FAN ORGANIC WRAP: STIRRING THE COLOR POT

Hi. everyone. I'm just popping in here on my way to the artisans show & sale to post the exact yarns used in this wrap. Feedback on Ravelry let me know how knitters would like this information so here it goes:

I used for the magenta green/bronze version:

• 1/4 hank of Blue Herons 'Old Gold' rayon cotton tape as my lead yarn
• 1 hank of Berroco's  Softwist in Noveau Berry.  Also, their Chinchilla yarn in  #5518 is the exact color of the primary magenta shade, too, if you want to add texture without breaking the bank.
• A 1/4 hank of Tilli Tomas Simply Heaven silk in  Pine Cone or substitute Berroco's Softwist in 'Palmetto'.
• 1/4 hank of Colinette Giotto in Tapis
• 1 hank of Berocco's Trilogy mix in 'Canterbury Berry' and their new 'Coptic Mix' in Optik yarns would give you a variegated color mix to pump up the volume in your feather n fan
• I also used about 1/4 hank of Judi&Co 1/4 rayon ribbon in 'Japanese Maple'  and 1/4 hank of Prism Dover in Ember. Look for a deep maroon to berry-stain shade
• For mohair, I usedTrendsetter Dune in Rust/Olive green but you could also try Kollage's Radience in 'Garden'.

I'll post my ingredients for the capelet next week along with more scarf recipes.

Oh, and I've had questions about increasing while working feather and fan—line up those patterns or not? In true free-range spirit, it's really a matter of preference. I didn't bother with lining up the stitch groupings for the wrap and to me the result made little difference. In the finished piece, I couldn't tell that the stitches weren't perfectly in line: there's so much movement in the design, it doesn't seem to matter. For the capelet version, I did make the effort just because with more length comes more drape.

To line up your stitch groupings to perfection (are their any compulsives out there?), mark where the feather and fan sets begin and end with stitch markers and be sure to work them in exactly the same spot in each sucessive pattern row. Make your increases only in the knit or purl rows for simplicty's sake. However, if your a risk-taker, you might just like to wing it and try to line them up visually, not caring whether every thing lines up perfectly. That's what I did with the woody capelet version. Speaking of which, here's the ingredient list for that one:

• 1/4 ball of Gedefra Cubetto in brown
• 1/4 hank of Tilli Tomas Simply Heaven silk in  Pine Cone or substitute Berroco's Softwist in 'Palmetto'.
• 1 hank of Patagonia cotton in #215
• 1/4 hank of Judi&Co's ribbon in Horn
• 1 hank Berocco's Softwist in 'Cycle' or go lux with La Lana Bombyx silk in Pine
• 1 ball Trendsetter Dune in turquoise & copper
• 1 ball Knit1Crochettoo Jam yarn in Golden Pear
• 1 ball Knit1Crochetoo Tartlette in Vineyard