Friday, October 13, 2006

Yarny Eye Candy

Meet Elann.com's Pamir. Pamir is Italian-made 80% wool and 20% mohair. It knits a light, airy fabric of 15 stitches to 4" on 6mm needles.



A few people at Elann chat asked how it compares to Brown Sheep Company's Lamb's Pride Bulky. I have a few skeins of Lamb's Pride worsted on hand, so assuming the composition is the same (85% wool/15% mohair), here are my thoughts. The Lamb's pride yarn is spun in one ply, and the fibers seem to be evenly blended together. The Pamir looks two-ply'ish. If you look at the photo above, you'll see a thicker strand of a matte yarn spun with a thinner strand of a shinier yarn. I think the wool and mohair are in two separate strands with the mohair acting as an accent. This effect adds texture to the knitted fabric. Both Pamir and Lamb's Pride have a slightly thick/thin effect as you knit, but not noticeable in the finished fabric, except to add texture. Both feel like homey, comforting yarns. Both have a bit of a halo, and I would say both are about equally soft and equally scratchy. Nice on the hands, lovely to knit, certainly not as scratchy as many yarns, but I would not wear either against my bare skin. I have not knitted much with Lamb's Pride, but I think Pamir is a lighter bulky than the LP bulky would be. It comes across as airy and lofty, not a dense bulky yarn at all.

I want to do a Saturday-sweater with the four colours of Pamir I bought. Something to add a second layer to long sleeves on a cold day. I want the sweater to be loose and airy, not closely fitted as most of my sweaters are. Will post pix when there is something to show.

This next is my stack of Elann's Sierra Aran. I just like looking at how those colours work together.



This is the most accurate photo of Lichen (the colour in the middle) that I've been able to take. Compare to the shot above. Above, it looks brown; below, it looks green. It is both of those, just depends how the light catches it.



Finally, some progress on the side-to-side cardigan. Can you see how this is shaping up? I've knitted one sleeve and working towards finishing the left front. The back is knitted to the point where I will extend towards the other sleeve and front. I could sew up the left side seam now. If I felt like it. Which I don't.



We have a WINNER!

Two Truths and a Lie (round one) goes to T, clever girl. I'll give her a point even though she hedged her answer a bit. I was lying about gummi bears. I hate them. I have never smoked a cigar, and my favorite bit of a roast chicken or turkey is the heart.

I'm going to try a few more rounds of this. If anyone manages to accumulate more than one point, there may be a prize involved oooh-eee!

Round Two:

1. I descend from Irish, English and French stock.
2. I am a fourteenth-generation Canadian
3. I once served a beer to Prince Charles (of Chuck and Di fame)

7 comments:

junior_goddess said...

You aren't 14th generation Canadian-

B

Rosie Perera said...

I'll play. I bet #2 is the lie. Canada hasn't been a nation long enough for there to be ANY 14th-generation Canadians. That would have to be about 280-400 years! OK, so you could be descended from someone in Canada's pre-history days, when it was New France, etc. But I'm guessing you're not. I can believe you served beer to Prince Charles, because I once sang for President Clinton (I was in the choir when Clinton attended my church on a campaign trip to Seattle).

Anonymous said...

I going to go for broke and say you really ARE a 14th generation Canadian, who served beer to Chucky. I once tasted a cocktail I made for Rock Hudson.

Anonymous said...

I have to agree with the others that there are no 14th generation Canadians.

The Pamir is beautiful. I have the charcoal but I love it with the moroccan and light greenish blue. I think those are my colors! Thanks for such an informative post, Jayne!

CatBookMom said...

Beautiful pictures, and it's especially nice that you can zoom them to life-size. About the 3 things, you actually could be a 14th generation Canadian. At an estimated average of 25 years per generation, that's 350 years, which would make your family start in Canada (though not by that name) in 1656. So it's possible.

Maybe you didn't actually serve Charlie Big Ears.

CatBookMom said...

Google sez here that Montreal, then known as 'Ville-Marie', was established as such between 1639 and 1642.

jayne said...

What a resourceful woman you are, CBM!