I Never Thought I'd Say This

I want more variegated yarn! Well, there are a few conditions on that statement - it has to be very short runs of color, no wild contrasts within a skein and the base yarn needs to be really nice. Pretty much, most of Gypsy Girl's yarns, as well as that Koigu stuff. Using variegateds in Fair Isle can be tricky - there has to be no "common colors" between the two skeins - if there is and they overlap at any point, the pattern will be lost. If you choose correctly, and have a little bit of luck and a great new book, things can turn out beautifully.

It's funny, when I was knitting this up last night, I only really saw the purple Crooks, but when I look at the picture, the orange ones stand out to me. These neat, almost Escher-like patterns are great to look at. You can change the dominant color just by changing how you look at them.

I'm doing these toe up as I only have 200 yards of each color. I want to squeeze the most sock I can out of the yarn I have. I'll knit until I'm halfway through the skeins, then start the second one. Two at once would be a pretty logical choice here, but two socks and two yarns would be just a mess. I'd have it tangled beyond repair in no time! I can't say enough good things about this yarn. More will make it's way to my stash eventually. The twist is nice and tight, it's not super thin like Lorna's, but more like a lighter weight Koigu (but not by much). The color - well, you can see that for yourself in the pictures.

The way these are turning out really opens up tons of possibilities. A variegated with a contrasting solid would also produce stunning results. Now go and use those skeins of variegated you had no idea what to do with!