Sunday, November 30, 2008

A Knitter's High

We were in New York at the beginning of November for a few days. Jeff ran the NY Marathon. I cheered him on from the sidelines with a hot latte in hand.

I completed a marathon of my own kind that week. About a month before I started Linden from Twist Collective. Apparently, our trip to NY was all I needed to motivate me to finish. One month, 9 days later I had a gorgeous sweater to keep me warm in the crisp fall air.



Project: Linden
Yarn: Cascade Pastaza color 0063 (dark brown)
Needles: KnitPicks Options US Size 9
Start: September 20, 2008
Finish: October 29, 2008


We went to Central Park for a little photo shoot. I wore it everyday that we were there. It's perfect for the fall weather and it's soft and super cozy. The pattern used Green Mountain Spinnery Yarn Over, but I had Cascade Pastaza that I had received as a birthday gift and had been waiting for the right pattern to come along. I thought it would work well since the Green Mountain is wool with some mohair and the Pastaza is wool with llama. The llama gives the yarn a light halo similar to mohair.



I couldn't get gauge with Pastaza. I needed 3.5 sts. per inch, but the best I could get without getting too loose of a fabric was 3.75 sts. per inch. So I decided to make the next size up figuring it would come close to the size I wanted. It's a little bigger than I planned, but I have room to layer and since it rarely gets cold here in Southern California, this will serve as a winter coat nicely.



It's been a long time since I've completed a sweater for myself. I wore it proudly. I kept telling Jeff to feel how soft it is. I guess it doesn't matter if the yarn is in the form of a ball, a skein or a sweater. We still want to pet it constantly.

This sign was outside of our hotel in Soho. The irony of it made me giggle everytime I saw it.



Seriously. No honking? In NYC?



Their solution for parking is creative.



Believe it or not, I only visited one yarn store. Purl Soho. It's a very nice little shop, stocked full of great quality yarns. I also visited their fabric shop just a few doors down the street. I would definitely be a regular if I lived in the city. Wanna hear something shocking? I didn't buy any yarn. I know. I almost don't believe it myself. I was going to get some Koigu since they have a very good selection, but they didn't have the color I was looking for. So I bought two of the latest magazines and left yarnless.


What I did bring home was perfume and gourmet chocolate! Talk about indulgences!