Swatches

SweetGeorgia Yarns Superwash DK in Silver, Nightshade and Blackberry

Knitwear design has taken a back seat to other things in my life during the past couple of years, but I’m back in full designer-mode these days, which makes me happy. I’ve been doing a lot of swatching lately. Here’s what I’ve been up to.

SweetGeorgia Yarns Superwash DK

One of my favorite yarns of all time. A soft merino with a tight twist and a great gauge for San Francisco Bay Area climates – a light DK, knitting up at 5-6 stitches/inch. Best of all is the color palette: STUNNING. I love in-between colors. Not just light blue or dark blue, but blue with hints of green. Or gray. Frosty blues and earthy blues. Deep dark teal or faded denim. Blues that lean towards purple. And the names: Mist. Nightshade. Sapphire. West Wind. Riptide. I count 19 shades of blue on SweeGeorgia’s website. It is my goal in life to own a skien of every semi-solid shade of this yarn. I wonder how long it will take?

Swatch for a new cardigan

This swatch will eventually be a sweater for myself – a v-neck cardigan. I fell in love with this gray shade (called Silver) as it sat lonely and neglected at one of my local yarn shops, Cast Away in Santa Rosa, CA. After buying every skein they had, I wasn’t sure if I had enough for a long-sleeve cardigan, so I added a couple skeins of Blackberry to my purchase. Horizontal stripes are not “supposed” to be flattering but who cares, I thought; I love stripes and they’re easy to knit. I wanted a relatively mindless project after all. After swatching with the two colors, I decided it needed a third. I found a skein of Nightshade in my stash which brought out the coolness of the Silver. It made the swatch sing. Next time I will share my progress on the cardigan.

Note: SweetGeorgia Yarns Superwash DK is not always easy to find at your local LYS but happily you can order directly from their beautiful website: www.sweetgeorgiayarns.com.