Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Remember the Koolaid Yarn?

Yes, this handspun hand dyed yarn.
I asked for ideas about what to knit with these skeins dyed with Kooaid and I got lots of comments in response. Thanks for taking an interest in this project! I was amazed at the number of people who responded and at the creativity expressed in some of the ideas.


I went through all the comments and wrote down every suggestion and put them in categories. Fourteen people suggested that I knit a striped sweater (vertical not horizontal stripes, one friend reminded me). In addition to other ideas, y'all said socks (3), scarves (2), shawl (2), tanks/vests (1), baby sweater (1), various kinds of blankets (7).

I asked The Professor his opinion. He gave me one of those looks and declared that this was a discussion he'd bow out of, thank you very much. Wise man, huh?

I have spent a lot of time just thinking about this, weighing the advantages to having a bright spring sweater, knitted vertically, wondering where I'd place the rainbow blanket in my somewhat color understated house. I've had some longish car trips lately that lent themselves to just sitting and thinking, instead of gripping the door handle and car seat as we whip through Los Angeles freeway traffic. I have realized that one reason I have not knitted anything except Eleanor Elizabeth's dress and jacket with this yarn is because, while I love vibrant colors, I don't wear them. I'm a navy and light blue girl myself.

So. Today I thought, "Well, I should find out how much of each color I have just in case I knit a sweater."

I would need to decide what my base color would be. I have the most skeins of Rasberry Reaction (no, it's not pink; it's the light turquoise) and the second most is Wild Watermelon Kiwi (spring green). I counted strands of each to estimate the number of yards I have of each. My estimate is that I have @575 yards of the turquoise and @450 yards of green.

Neither color is enough to make a single color sweater. BUT. I. might. be able to make a Fair Isle sweater or vest using the turquoise as my base color, the green as a secondary, and the other colors like Lemonade, Grape or Pink Lemonade as accents. Now I have to ask myself, "Pullover, cardigan, or vest?" But. Maybe the blanket, after all. Ripple or blocks?

See my dilemna?

17 comments:

On This Rock said...

Beautiful beautiful colours...I don't think you really can go wrong with anything that you choose to make. I look forward to the end result...I would say "good luck" but perhaps "good fun!" is a better wish in this instance (smile!)

Marg said...

Hey, I love your favorite colors. I looked at my wardrobe the other day and guess what/ Blue?
Great choice..Try a vest sleeveless, And then you can put some solid colors under it. (I have a dark sea blue vest that looks like a sailing vest or something. You probably have the drift.
Add some hints of spring, like your greens/ turquoises, Oh, this is fun.

TheCatLord said...

i'm sure anything you make will be gorgeous! my vote is the blanket-ripple

Jientje said...

Definitely the blanket!
Those are such beautiful colours, I can picture that thrown over a rocking chair.
... A good book, a glass of wine and a fireplace. And it will be finished by fall!

Anonymous said...

If only all of life's dilemmas were so beautiful...

Jane said...

Oh a fairisle sweater sounds a lovely idea. Jane x

Knitting Linguist said...

I love the blue and the green together! And it sounds like you might have enough yardage to just do a sweater with those two? Maybe you could make a yoked cardigan, with the ribbing in some of your other fun colors (just to stretch these two), then the body in blue until the yoke, which you could do striped in blue and green, with the blue stripes getting smaller and the green stripes getting larger, and then do the sleeves in green, with the ribbing at the end in the other colors. Maybe?...

Knitting Linguist said...

P.S. OK, now *I* want that sweater. ;)

ellen b. said...

I'm taking the high road with the professor or is that the low road??

Claudia Bugh said...

You just have to dive in and decide!

At Dancing Leaf Farm there is a fun sweater pattern that she designed using Fleece Artist Yarns. Something like that might be nice too and uses color blocks.

Claudia Bugh said...

Sorry - make that Peace Fleece yarn - I caught that just after I pushed the publish button - LOL

Cindy Garber Iverson said...

My vote is still for a cute beret or knitted hat in every color. That was you don't have to worry about whether you like all the colors together.

Cindy

Allie said...

If you have a little extra, you could knit a bird for this - http://lucends.blogspot.com/2009/03/coopers-flock.html the bright colors seem perfect!

Elizabeth said...

I think two colors --not ALL all at once.
It would be too much.
But they are lovely colors.

Pat @ Mille Fiori Favoriti said...

I think whatever you decide to make will look beautiful! The colors all match well and are so pretty.

I think a cardigan is the most versitle fir your clomate --on and off when needed. Maybe a wide shawl would be nice?

Enjoy!

Bethany said...

I was just thinking ripple blanket because the bright colors would be so pretty for that! I can't wait to see what you decide!!

Mama Mia said...

I think a vest would be absolutely lovely! The only hitch is would you actually wear it...? You are more a navy person. But I think the colors would look lovely on you if you decided to wear it. :o)

I also think a ripple blanket would gorgeous. :o)