April 29, 2013

Pistachio braids

A few weeks ago I bought a very pretty cotton yarn for my spring and summer creations. It is a Knit Picks Shine Sport (60/40 cotton and wood fiber). Amazingly soft yarn with a very slight silky touch. Usually I'm not a huge fan of cotton yarns because they are dry and even though it's soft - I don't like to hold it in my hands for a long time (I mean while knitting). But this blend was very comfortable for me and from now on it is in my favorite yarns list :)

So I bought a few balls of Pistachio colorway and a few of Serrano.

I decided to use a Pistachio first and I really want to make something with braids, not lacy. Probably I just got tired from all the lace projects lately.

So here is what I've got:


April 5, 2013

Mom's laced pullover

A few months ago my mom asked me to make her a laced pullover for spring and early summer. She already found some pattern in Russian knitting magazine and I just have to choose suitable yarn for this project.
I was hoping to find some blend with 1) cotton or 2) vicose (rayon) or 3) bamboo as these fibers are perfect for summer knitting.
I made three swatches and somehow the winner was Viscose/acrylic 60/40 blend - Mallorca from Ice Yarns. I have to say that I was pretty sure that Acrylic will make this yarn awful. But.... The yarn is really good and soft, nice to skin and pretty cold because of rayon (perfect for hot days). I like it so much that I also making myself a jacket with it :)