I thought when I first bought Sock Yarn One-Skein Wonders edited by Judith Durant, that I'd like to have a go at some variation on the South West Cactus tea cosy on page 257.I didn't much go for the dangling cacti - but I thought this would be a good chance to try a wool that is meant to knit up in a way that resembles fairisle - without the need for charts and patterns.
It took me a while to source the wool, which I eventually found at Camilla Valley Farm in Canada. I ordered 9070 Sombrero, and had been waiting the chance to try out a tea cosy.
I should, of course, have measured the base of the teapot and compared it with the finished measurement. Instead, I knitted a couple of inches and decided the base was much too big, so unravelled it and began again with two-thirds of the stitches. Much better
My next mistake was to assume that the 'float stitch' was a means of carrying wool over on the inside - as you would for fairisle. Eventually I realised that the 'floats' were decorations on the outside of the cosy. I decided at that point that I could live without seeing the floats and continued on regardless.
Because I was adapting a much larger tea cosy, the gap for the spout was much larger than needed. I therefore picked up some stitches and knitted a gusset. I could have done tricksy things link the colours, but didn't.
I have had fun playing with this wool and creating the tea cosy. I think it creates interesting patterns and effects. It isn't, in my view, comparable to fair isle. It is fairly limited in its pattern creation.
It looks good on the shelf alongside the owl.
5 comments:
I cannot believe, Jillian, that you ordered yarn all the way from Canada when Australia is such a great wool producer! I used to despair of finding decent homegrown yarn here, and I have a horribly twiggy cardigan to show for my patriotism!
Mission Falls, which is a good Canadian yarn company, gets their wool from Brazil.
But that aside, I like your yarn better than the one in the book. It's a very cheerful colour, and a fun shape for the cozy. And it looks awesome on the shelf with the owl!
very colourful tea cosy and love the owl too
Thanks Monica and Margaret. As far as I can tell, Monica, the wool actually comes from Mexico. I could have bought it from the UK or Canada - mad, isn't it? I don't usually go for such specialised wools but wanted to give this a go. I might have to knit socks with what's left!
I like your version of the cosy better than the book and agree that the yarn is nowhere near as nice as actually doing fairisle properly. You might find it shifts differently in sock form as there is generally only 60sts for a plain ladies sock.
Thanks Katherine. It will certainly make bright socks, if I can't think of anything else to do with it!
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