Unexpected Bonus

I have always enjoyed winding yarn.  It gives me space to think about a yarn, or a project or projects in general.

The yarn I wound yesterday is for a restart of the Rams Horn Cardigan. I purchased Briggs and Little Atlantic for it and I have to say, I can't wait to work with this yarn.  It is such a different creature than Regal, which is the heaviest weight B & L I have worked with to date.  I may have fallen in love with this company all over again.

While I wound that, I did have to acknowledge that it is going to take a while to knit that sweater/coat.  Stranded is never fast and this pattern is fully stranded.  And that means I might want to think of another coat like sweater for outer wear this winter.  I do still have my Argo sweater, 

which is barely a year old, but honestly, that has become such a staple in house sweater, that it is a bit hard to think of it as an outdoor garment again.

I do love the pattern though.  It was fun to knit, and it fit well, without fuss.   And to top it off, it is yet another marvelously designed pattern to adapt if you are not a standard size.  The placement of the increases below the garter stitch section is brilliant. 

 I did buy some MacAuslands Three Ply for another winter coat type garment and I bought it with another Argo in mind, but I am not sure if I want to do that with the yarn.  Sitting here this morning, I think I want something a bit more plain, a bit smoother in line to show up the pretty heathered yarn.

The end result is, I am mulling patterns and shapes and looks today.  I'm not finding quite what I want, and have discarded several ideas already.  I think what I really want with this is something in the shape of an Undercurrent , longer and without a hood, with its simple lines and it's wide abundant collar.  And Undercurrent, but for the striping is such a simple easy sweater shape.

For right now, that is what I am going with.  Simple plain sweater with a wide collar and deep ribbed two by two edges.  For now.  I never really know till the day I start to work with it. Today though is for winding this very interesting yarn.

You know what the best part of winding these lovely made in Canada at small mill yarns is?  Everything smells sheepy and fresh off the farm and wonderful.  Winding the Atlantic was lovely.  It brought back the scent of my travels, driving with the windows down and the scent of freshly mown hay and grain ripening in the fields (Though that last is happening much too fast with this years heat to produce top quality grain) wafting around me in the heat of the days.  My hands feels soft from the lanolin.  

I love that. It is a small unexpected bonus to working with wool close to the source.  

Update:  Though now that I think of it, it's the garter stitch of Argo that I don't want for this sweater.  Maybe if I substituted moss stitch?  See how it goes? The debate rages on.