Twinkle, Twinkle!

I really love that Potter Craft put out my book, because they publish some of the rockinest knit books. I’m constantly feeling like an inadequate middle child when I see their new release lists. But on the upside, if I ask nice, they give them to me! Presents! Yesterday, I got Twinkle’s Big City Knits. And it’s yum. It’s an instant-gratification whore’s wet dream. It’s pretty much all bulkies, but they’re nice and tailored instead of looking like huge lumpy sacks of potatoes. Do you remember that VK designer issue the year before last I think, the one with the striped reverse-stockinette uber-turtleneck number on the cover? That’s her. I can tell right off some of the stuff will not work on my thicker frame (Wenlan’s a fashion designer way more than a knitwear designer, so like all fashion, her stuff favors lithe 8-foot dolls who glide around on their impossibly long legs), but there are also several designs that I can tell right off will look good on my non-runway body. Yay! I’m due for a little break in work knitting and want something fast and satisfying.

I’m starting with the Magic Shawl (random images from flickr):

But I didn’t have an appropriate bulky, so I built 2 uberballs out of 3 worsted-to-chunky yarns each:

I’m casting on after dinner, but I swatched before I wound them up & like the way they knit as one. Reminds me of a more textured MarLa. Normally I wouldn’t go around mixing orange reds and blue reds, but the common strand of Baby Alpaca Brush (fuzzy left strand in both groups) makes them look surprisingly good together. So my plan is to skip the fringe (I like the fringe, and that’s actually the “magic” part of the pattern, but a chunky single fringe looks cool, whereas, three skinny fringes will look like a rug chewed by a puppy), work the body of the sweater in the orange reds, and work the ribbing in the blue reds. Will it work? Who knows? Will I have enough yarn? What do I look like, an engineer? Let’s hope so. (Not that I look like an engineer; that I have enough yarn.)

Last night, when I started looking through the book (which, by the way, has a mix of glossy and flat pages that I really admire. I want to write another book just to have it printed on flat paper!), I couldn’t pick a pattern to go with my stash (I’m only one strike away from being booted off the stashalong, so I’m being good), and I hadn’t yet hit on the notion of uberballs or skipping the fringe, but I was all amped up to knit something bulky. I thought about that great Loop-d-Loop leafy sweater, but I really like that as a green sweater, so I started a chunky cardigan with some Patons Bella I had:

The leafy edge is big fold-over collar, and the live end is the middle of the raglan shoulders. The leaf pattern is from an old afghan booklet I found. I plan to add a few random leaves near the bottom, a leafy edge, and mabe some big fold-over leaf cuffs? I wish I’d knit a couple rows of ribbing before starting the leaves. Maybe I’ll tear it back and start over. I really think I’d prefer it that way, and it’s only a night’s worth of work.

Raglan shoulders with the undersie of the collar.

Hm. I probaby will tear it back. Dammit. Fools rush in.

I’m off to go make some scrumpy coconut soup for dinner. Yum.