A Future of Fair Isle
And every shepherd tells his tale,
Under the hawthorn in the dale.-John Milton
Thanks for all your wonderful comments on the Ladybug Sweater. I learned a lot knitting it, I adore the final product, and it's been my happiest knit in a while. And my husband even likes it, which is good, considering the (eventual) recipients.
That husband o' mine, being the smart guy that he is, however, realized that if I'm already making sweaters for future hypothetical children, he'd better clamor to get his sweaters now. He figures (probably rightly so) that once any children are more than hypothetical, he'll be totally out of luck. He is, after all, substantially bigger than 24 mos.
Turns out, he's always wanted a Dale of Norway ski sweater. Ironic, given that he's always hot and we live in San Diego, but I've always wanted to knit one. And he does legitimately ski.
There were many contenders, but he chose the Salt Lake City Pattern. A discontinued pattern. After swimming rivers, climbing mountains, and calling all over the world to get this pattern, I've decided. Any Dale pattern I remotely like, I'm just going to buy right away. As soon as I get my hands on the Salt Lake City one, that is. They go out of print so fast, and they're hard to find later.
On a related note, there are places that sell this in kits - but they're all kitting them with Falk, the superwash version of Heilo. Ugh. Other than Dale Baby Ull, I am not overly fond of superwash. And for a big steeked sweater, I definitely want the real stuff.
And for our second topic of the day, I had a little yarn indiscretion last night. Instead of clearing the slate for the big Dale sweater coming my way (Denim Aran, anyone?), I had a mitten accident. Leftovers (lots!) of Green Mountain Spinnery Mountain Mohair. Striped mittens to match this hat. Less garish in real life, really adorable. Oops.
Under the hawthorn in the dale.-John Milton
Thanks for all your wonderful comments on the Ladybug Sweater. I learned a lot knitting it, I adore the final product, and it's been my happiest knit in a while. And my husband even likes it, which is good, considering the (eventual) recipients.
That husband o' mine, being the smart guy that he is, however, realized that if I'm already making sweaters for future hypothetical children, he'd better clamor to get his sweaters now. He figures (probably rightly so) that once any children are more than hypothetical, he'll be totally out of luck. He is, after all, substantially bigger than 24 mos.
Turns out, he's always wanted a Dale of Norway ski sweater. Ironic, given that he's always hot and we live in San Diego, but I've always wanted to knit one. And he does legitimately ski.
There were many contenders, but he chose the Salt Lake City Pattern. A discontinued pattern. After swimming rivers, climbing mountains, and calling all over the world to get this pattern, I've decided. Any Dale pattern I remotely like, I'm just going to buy right away. As soon as I get my hands on the Salt Lake City one, that is. They go out of print so fast, and they're hard to find later.
On a related note, there are places that sell this in kits - but they're all kitting them with Falk, the superwash version of Heilo. Ugh. Other than Dale Baby Ull, I am not overly fond of superwash. And for a big steeked sweater, I definitely want the real stuff.
And for our second topic of the day, I had a little yarn indiscretion last night. Instead of clearing the slate for the big Dale sweater coming my way (Denim Aran, anyone?), I had a mitten accident. Leftovers (lots!) of Green Mountain Spinnery Mountain Mohair. Striped mittens to match this hat. Less garish in real life, really adorable. Oops.
Labels: Colors, Manly Knits, Mittens, Sweaters
posted by Theresa at 11:29 AM/Permalink
7 Comments:
That's not something I was ready to learn about the Dale patterns. Now my financially-drained self is contemplating tracking down all those "someday-maybe" patterns.
Did you try Shirley's which is in a town that starts with H and north of Ellesmere, on the main road to Canada, in ME.? She had quite a few of the old, overpriced on Ebay patterns ... Nagano, Lillehammer, Thunder Bay, etc. and she even had lots of Kolibri which has been discontinued for years.
Shirley's Yarn & Crafts
677 Route 1
Hancock, ME.
207-667-7158
Did you check with Bea Ellis? www.beaellis.com
Could you call the places that make the kits and ask whether they'd substitute different yarn for you? I bet they would.
I have always liked the Salt Lake City Olympic pattern myself! And, your hubby sounds like mine who will not answer my inquiries as to whether he likes a particular pattern....he always answers back, "I will tell you AFTER you finish my socks." He knows if he says yes then I will get 'distracted' and cast on immediately! LOL
Yummmm......I've always loved the Salt Lake City sweater, too. Obviously, your dh has excellent taste, but then we knew that already, didn't we? Good luck in your quest to find the pattern. I'll be watching!
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