The other day I decided that I would only make as many Christmas gifts as I could get done before my birthday (exactly a month from now).
Chances are, unless it’s something small, if I am still knitting it on 12/7, it probably won’t get done. And I’ll want to start something new for myself anyway. So that is the deal I made with myself. (Hopefully I’ll stick to it!)
Last week, I was able to finally finish the fiddly gift for mom I mentioned, and now I am working on something for Dad.
Sadly, I did not have time to A) reknit my Akoya button bands, or B) block and take a picture of my February Beret. Sorry! Work was crazy last week.
Wanna know why?
Well, Brooklyn Tweed just released a new yarn called Loft! Yay, we’re finally allowed to talk about it. I heard rumblings of it several months ago, and I was immediately excited. While I love Shelter, I love knitting with finer gauge yarn, so Loft was just up my alley. It has all the wooliness of Shelter, but it’s thinner and softer. He also expanded the color palette, and the dyed in the wool process he uses means the colors have an incredible depth to them. You’ll have to see it in person, but rarely is a color just a color with Loft.
I already know what I am going to make with Loft. First, the Little Birds Sweater, but I am not completely sure of my color choices. I’ll either go with a Soot sweater, Long Johns birds, and Woodsmoke branches, or a Long Johns sweater, Woodsmoke birds, and Hayloft branches. Obviously I have some swatching to do! I didn’t allow myself to buy any Loft until I finished my gift knitting. Cruel, I know!
That doesn’t mean I haven’t played with it yet. I am actually (slowly) knitting the Jaffrey Tam as a store sample, in Long Johns. While it’s very slow going, I am enjoying working with the yarn. It’s incredibly pleasureable to knit with, very soft, light and wooly.
So yes, exciting.
I will be knitting furiously for the next month, so apologies in advance if I either don’t post or make the most eloquent posts.
I also am under the impression that I want to knit a dress out of fingering weight yarn that is pretty much inspired by this: http://mossandstone.wordpress.com/2011/10/31/recent-inspirations-2/23451958_071_b/
I swatched for it already, actually. (The bulk of what I did today.)
I also already knit half of the pattern in my head, so I guess all that’s left is getting the yarn and casting on. If only I had loads of free time coming up…
