The Red Sweater

Nesting Weather, Floppy Sweater and Sidewalk Sales

It’s overcast and rainy today - perfect weather for “nesting”. I’m having a hard time being at work today because all I want to do is cuddle up in a blanket in front of some old movie and knit up a storm.

I almost finished the floppy sweater last night. It’s all sewn up just needing the couple rows of the neck picked up and finished and the many many ends sewn in. I did try it on … I think it may be too big around, even for a floppy sweater. It pains me too much to talk about it now, but I will demonstrate later, with pictures, and take a quick poll.

In other news, I stopped at the Yarn Garden last weekend for the big sidewalk sale (that was fun) and along with my treasured finds there, I found that they have started carrying a couple yarns in the Adrienne Vittadini line. Beautiful and luxurious. These are definitely the kind of yarns that you save up for, though. I bought one ball of “Caterina”, a 100% rayon eyelash with short fibers, similar to Berroco’s chinchilla, but soooo soft. I don’t think there’s anything softer than this yarn. A cloud? Maybe. Maybe a newborn’s fuzzy little head of hair. But that’s all. This yarn tops everything else. Really. I’m paring it with 2 balls of Debbie Bliss’s Cashmerino for a Christmas scarf. I’m going to take my time making it, for sure.

My precious but discontinued Rowan Chunky Soft

I think I may have found a substitute for the precious but discontinued Rowan Chunky Soft: “White Buffalo Un-spun”. I haven’t met this yarn in person yet, but the review on Knitter’s Review was very favorable and it looks very similar. The only problem will be that the review says it’s not as soft - it’s more “wooly”.

From Knitters Review: White Buffalo is composed of six thin strands of fiber that are as flat and uniform as linguini. Before you can knit, you need to start a slight spin to keep the strands together and give them some strength. … The knitting process feels very much like knitting with a huge wad of cotton candy. It took a few rows to get the hang of the yarn (mostly remembering to accentuate my movements so that the fibers wouldn’t snag), after which knitting was smooth sailing.

The best thing about the Chunky Soft is that it’s a very bulky yarn (10 sts/inch) but it’s fuzzy enough that it doesn’t look bulky. It comes together as more of a fabric than a knit and its drape is very light and flattering. We’ll see if the Buffalo is the same…

On another vein, does anyone know why the Chunky Soft was discontinued after such a short run? Does it pill badly? Dissolve in water? If I wrote a pleading letter to Rowan, would they bring it back, like Coke Classic?