the blue blog archives: I'm in heaven

After all the straight stockinette stitch knitting I did on my trip, I wanted to treat my hands to something special for the next few days. I saw some gorgeous Daria Multi yarn at Purl Soho this weekend, and was reminded that I had a few skeins of it at home. One trip to the swift and one crochet hook later and I'm in heaven.

It's so beautiful - every stitch is a new color and looks so amazing with all the stitches around it. I think the single crochet really shows this yarn off well. Despite the yarn being a sleek cord yarn, it's not too stiff or awkward to handle. In fact it's a real pleasure to work with. And it's perfect for a little bag.

But that was not enough. My hands wanted more. To be specific, they wanted cashmere. I've never worked with cashmere before, but after my Mom picked up some cashmere in New York and I had it in my hands long enough to put it in the bag, they had to have more. Rather than starting with mom's cashmere scarf, I bought a skein at my LYS for a little something oh so lovely. I can't say any more here now (people are listening!), but I can tell you that the cashmere is incredible. In fact, I must stop typing now. Gotta save the fingers for the caaaash!

posted by alison at 8:38 am | in bag lady

Comments

OH! YOu have joined the cashmere lovers of the knitted world!!! :) I"m glad and so are your hands!
:)
Love the crocheted purse! The colors are fab!

Posted by: sandy at July 30, 2004 11:07 AM

Isn't it the coolest to work with? And you picked my very favorite color. :) Yours looks great!

Posted by: kerry at July 30, 2004 11:58 AM

Alison...I will enable you on this one. It is yummy yarn. Am I allowed to say that Yarn Connection had something something by another manufacturer that was knit into the coolest little bag?

Posted by: elisabeth at July 30, 2004 12:05 PM

Hi! I have been reading you blog for long time but this is my first post here. I love all the stuff you have made and I hope one day I will be as good in knitting as you are.

That Daria multi yarn looks really nice. I have been planning to crochet a belt and that yarn would be perfect colour. Looks like it could be little too stiff though. What do you think? Can anybody recommend another yarn? I was thinking about using a D-ring (Is that what you call it?) in the belt.

Posted by: kaisa at July 30, 2004 1:10 PM

I just finished making a belt for my 17 yr. old daughter w/ daria-it really came out nice. Only took a 1/2 of skein-she has no hips.
Silly question-how are you going to make your mom's candy cane scarf-any pattern-or just winging it-ps I love working w/ manos stria

Posted by: kathy z at July 30, 2004 2:16 PM

Oh yes, Sandy, I'm definitely hooked now! I'm trying to talk my mom into a cashmere sweater. A "she pays-I knit-she wears" sort of deal.

Elisabeth, I don't even know what you're talking about, but I want it! ;0)

Kaisa, Purl Soho had a belt on display made of the Daria yarn. It looked really cool. And the Yarn Co. has a belt pattern that they'll send you with purchase of the yarn. That's two hip NY stores (and Kathy!) that recommend Daria for belts. Sounds good enough to me! The cord is definitely not too stiff. I think it'd be great!

Kathy, I'm going to use the Jilly scarf pattern, which is free to download for Rowan International members (it's written for kidsilk haze), but I've seen the same scarf in other publications written for different yarns/gauges. It's called Twinkle in Rowan Junior and Fab in Rowan's Little Book of Big Accessories.

Posted by: alison at July 30, 2004 4:46 PM

Hello!

I have seen patterns online for making a knitted or crocheted "water bottle cozy" with a strap so that you can wear your bottle of water around your shoulder like a purse. I always thought that this yarn would be best for it because it doesn't seem "WARM" but it does seem strong. I live in Arizona where water bottles have to be an accessory :)

By the way I check your blog every day and I adore it. Your work is amazing.

Illanna

Posted by: Illanna at July 31, 2004 8:28 AM