Swatches, failures, and new plans

I just started to make This. There is a ball of Babykid sleeping in my stash, and it gets fondled a lot, what a cute yarn. I've been wondering what "one ball wonder" I could do with it until I saw this airy shrug from Garnstudio. Their patterns are so beautiful, and who doesn't like free patterns? The pattern calls for two balls of a similar yarn, so my version will have shorter sleeves.

I picked Vine lace pattern from A Treasury of Knitting Patterns, a beautifully simple one and started working on size 10 Brittany. So far so good:


The cold weather has definitely promoted knitting! I've just finished a warm sweater. Pictures will come later.

Also swatched is this extremely squishy merino, Santa Fe, it feels like a nylon stocking on needles, really. Great yardage, too. Tahki (and FDC and SCC) is a great yarn company, imho. I enjoyed working with every yarn I tried from them.


I am not sure what to make with Santa Fe yet, I have seen a couple of vests but was unimpressed. One interesting thing about bulky yarns is that they have to be made into closely fitted clothes, or huge accessories. A fitted bulky sweater can be very attractive, while a baggy one may look horrible. Exaggerated accessories have been "in" for several years, and they are still everywhere.

Speaking of bulky yarn, I have some Rowan Big wool fusion for a jacket. This yarn is very soft, but clearly different from those extrafine merinos. I like this cool color. At first it was a cabled one, here is the debris:


It was frogged because when I tried it on, it was too baggy. Then it became this:

Can you see the second one was an unfinished, slightly modified Twinkle design?
This time it was a bit tight, for my gauge changed in the process!

Three is a charm, and I will probably make this jacket:

or this pretty pretty pullover:

Which one do you like better?