Wednesday, August 10, 2011

No More Gray

We've had marine layer clouds every morning for months on end. It doesn't help that I've been sewing and knitting gray all summer*. In reality, they are subtle non-colors (black/gray/cream/brown) with hints of myriad colors. Exhibit A, Aran Ring V2 in undyed alpaca from the Twist Yarns of Intrigue's own line of yarns.
The yarn comes in enormous 8 oz/650 yd skeins for ~$27/skein. It's a finer micron count than Frog Tree Alpaca, another yarn I considered for this design. In the end, the softer Twist yarn won out. I thought that 1 skein would be sufficient to make myself a version of the Golden Braid. When I finished the cabled section, I decided to keep knitting to make a short vest.

I ran out of yarn at a very unflattering length. I had to go back for a second skein for another $27. This sweater weighs 9 oz so I have quite a bit left. What should I do with the rest?

Although it is light in actual weight, it is incredibly warm and I won't be able to wear it until the weather cools down. In the mean time, you can pet it at Twist Yarns of Intrigue in Manhattan Beach, CA. It's front and center as you walk in (paired with Cathy's shibori skirt). Cathy has more alpaca, some undyed, some hand-dyed in her own subtle shades.
I might even be willing to sell or trade the 7 oz I have left.

Raveled here
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Pix of me wearing it in Meeting Shams.

* But I've recently switched to pink. More on that later.

Aside:
How thick is the marine layer? (Translation: How cloudy is it?)
Consider the MODIS La Jolla subset from NASA's Terra satellite, local time of ascension, 10:30. The marine layer is inland.
Compare with the MODIS La Jolla subset from NASA's Aqua satellite, local time of ascension, 13:30. It's a little bit clearer inland, but there are still plenty of thin clouds along the coast that are a bit too thin to show up well in the visible spectrum. On the ground, it still looks a bit gray.

3 comments:

  1. Wow, that's a great top. I haven't been to your blog before, so I'm not familiar with the meteorology side of things, but it seems like the weather is a bit unusual in many parts of the world right now.

    Thank you for your comment on my blog.
    I know that not all women had bound feet but one of the main characters is an upper class young woman during the Song dynasty and part of the story takes place at court... That's why I thought there should have been mention of the practise, and of court eunuchs as well, by the way.

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  2. That is a great top and I really like it in this form. I would think that sleeves would be much too warm with alpaca, but the vest would be just right. I'm sorry I didn't look at the version you made for Iris earlier and order the book. Perhaps I'll get lucky and one of Amazon's resellers will ship to the US.

    The yarn sounds intriguingly lovely as well. I'd love to go to that shop someday if I can only get to LA.

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  3. Very beautiful design! I am working on one out of the gray yarn right now as well. It is just in the beginnings.

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