I Am Yarn's Bitch

I'm not a fast knitter.  I think if I were better at Continental method I might be able to lay on some serious speed.  And these days, I really need it.

In the last few weeks I've been very fortunate to have received yarn sponsorships for a number of projects, leaving me with a knitwear designer's version of a ton of homework!  Believe me, it's a good problem to have.  With the craziness of my life, the holidays coming, and a job, knitting is a creative outlet, peaceful, and a point of pride.  Yet, let's face it.  It's also pressure and deadlines.  Yarn has made me her bitch.

Mountain Colors Crazyfoot in Juniper

I hate that to protect publishing and ownership agreements I can't show you finished projects, but I can at least show you the yarn!  In order (I think) -

Mountain Colors:  I've made one of two mittens I designed for them.  The yarn is Crazyfoot, and I particularly love the green.  "Juniper" is the colorway.  I'm seriously thinking this could be a Knitty submission.

Holiday Yarns:  A pair of "Man" mittens for the upcoming season.  The pattern is largely written, but is likely to change as I knit it up.  Ideas always hit me mid-project.  This DK weight yarn has lovely shproing to it.  It's got a nice loft, a high twist, and I love the Cafe Au Lait colorway.  It looks like a variety of kinds of mocha desserts to me!

DirtyWater Dyeworks: Socks or mittens in a semi-baroque pattern.  This pattern is fighting me a bit, but I will prevail in the end. These two colors together feel very French Provincial to me.  The yarn is Julia, 50/50 merino and tencel, and seductively soft for its strength.

A Christmas Stocking for a "shall remain nameless" company.  The group of colors feels very Normann Rockwell, doesn't it?  I'd like to do something that looks vintage without being campy.  Editing well will be key.


An outstanding design for Buffalo Gold, colors yet to be determined.  I love this pattern. I know I'm not supposed to pick favorites, but sometimes it can't be helped.  I can't wait to see the color choices they make!

Plus, because I'm silly, I grabbed some yarn at a festival so I can knit up my next free mitten pattern.  It's from Into the Whirled. 

An embarrassment of riches.  Or a guillotine over my head, depending on whether there's a deadline looming.  I think I need to go have some chocolate.  To bring balance to the universe.  You know.

Buffalo Gold "Lux" yarn

45% Bison

20% Silk

20% Cashmere

15% Tencel

 

This is the lace-weight yarn I'm using right now.  I LOVE it!  It's made by Buffalo Gold, although at the moment I don't see it on their website.  For those of us who are allergic to wool, buffalo down is a magical option, as it looks and behaves similarly.  There is less stretch in the fiber, but looking at the finished product, you'd never guess it's not a wool or wool blend.  The resulting fabric is silky soft, impressively strong, and has terrific stitch definition pre-washing.  The swatch I laundered got a lovely soft, dense halo around the original strand, making for a cashmere look.

 

This yarn is skeined pre-bloom, and does still have some of the manufacturing oils left on its surface.  This is slowing down the action on my hardwood needles, but not much.  I've decided to wash the finished garment instead of the skein to give it a fuller effect than knitting post-bloom would.

 

I'm making a solid color version of the Ruffles for Lisa scarf, and my particular yarn is a sagey green.  It's skeined at 330 yds, which I think should just do it.  If I come up short, I'll scour Ravelry for another skein.

 

When I was in Yellowstone recently, the bison were shedding their down.  It was fascinating to my fiber-crazed brain that this soft, billowy down was one of the fibers used in my yarn.  This is not an easy way to obtain fibers!  My understanding is that they only shed their down once a year. I know the Yellowstone herds are wild, but I have a hard time picturing a fully tamed buffalo.  I wouldn't enjoy being responsible for gathering the shed down, or for giving a buffalo a comb-out.  Maybe I'm just a wuss.  Do any of you gather buffalo fibers?

 

Anyway, pictures will follow, and when I'm sure I'm finished tinkering with it, so will the pattern.  If you've made anything with Lux or with buffalo yarn in general, I'd love to see it and hear about your experience!

Yellowstone

I'm blogging from the desk of my dear childhood friend because my laptop can't find her wireless network.  That means at least for now I can't post pics, but I did finally find my camera! 

Hiking in Yellowstone has taught me that I am definitely a Flatlander.  Buffalo, NY is my home, and it is at sea level.  Yellowstone varies from 5800 to 8500 ft above sea level.  Above 6000, I had a really tough time!  Just walking from the car to the scenic overlooks were enough to give me side stitches as if I were running from a mugger.  My breathing was labored, my heart was racing, and I was TIRED!  Oh, well.  I won't be signing up for any marathons up here.

We have seen everything in the way of wildlife except a Grizzly.  The coolest was a cow elk nursing her calf.  The colors and animals and stones and "green" eco-theme of the park have been very inspiring in the way of my new project, working with sustainable yarns.  I've been sketching designs, and modifying others.  I think this trip will probably yield it's own collection. 

One thing that was impressively cool was to see bison/buffalo shedding their down.  It's the only part of the bison that becomes yarn, and they shed it in long, soft tufts that look like dread locks.  I took photos, and these guys look very Rastafarian at this time of year!  When the down has been shed, it is then cleaned (rinsed), dried, carded, dyed or not, and spun into amazing yarns.  If you haven't had the opportunity to work with buffalo yarns or blends, check out Buffalo Gold, an American company specializing in buffalo fibers.  These are not cheap, but they are magnificent.  They wear like iron, but feel soft and supple.  In the blends, they have good memory, but alone are a little unstretchy.  The website lists LYS who carry their product, and sometimes you can find it being sold on eBay. 

I'll post pics to this article when I can pull them from my computer.  Until then, I'll be in Big Sky country breathing hard and shopping for local sustainable fiber yarns!