Developing things

I know that the rest of the entire knitting world has a thing for soft yarns.  If you wandered around Ravelry you would see over and over, yarns noted for being soft, yummy buttery.  That is fine so far as it goes, but there really is a whole other world of yarn out there.

My Elysium sweater is made from one of those other yarns.  

Elysium is made from the wholesome goodness of Custom Woolen Mills Mule Spinner 2 ply (that acts more like a worsted weight)

My Red sweater is certainly made from one of those other yarns.

The red sweater is made from Sandnesgarn Tove, a crunchy sort of wool, usually noted for its felting abilities but trust me on this, absolutely, perfectly wonderful for almost any kind of knitting.  

Proof Positive!

Now this Shetland Shawl of the indeterminate Shetland style yarn. I am quite in love with this stuff.  Most amazing since I am knitting it from a huge cone and I am knitting it pre-wash state (it comes oiled for use on looms).  

 

You can see the amazing transformation the yarn will have once it has bloomed after a good wash.  From the cone, it is stiff, hard through my fingers, almost linen like in its crunchy constrained state.  After a wash, it becomes a thing of magic and beauty.  It turns from a flat unimpressive thing, into what several of my knitting friends would call a good and proper yarn.  

I am most assuredly developing a taste for these yarns that do not have 'soft' listed as the first descriptor. 

Yesterday I fell deep under the spell of the yarn and the pattern of the Shetland Style shawl.  Deep, deep. Deeper.  Deeper still.  I knit in the morning on it and finished the centre.  I picked up the edges slowly and carefully making sure I had exactly 153 stitches.  Then I knit the first few rounds and thought 'ah, there that ought to do it for the day' but I could not seem put it down.  

I knit on it in the waning of the afternoon and knit on it through the evening. I knit till I had a crick in my back and my legs were stiff from sitting in one place so long.  (I changed places).  I knit more.  

By days end, I had the inner lace border complete but for one pattern row and a few rows of plain stockinette.  

        

I hope you can see the magic within.  It is the yarn.  It is the pattern.  It is the perfectly right combination of the two.