Sunday, March 27, 2011

By the numbers

There's a lot going on in the Wandering Cat world... so get comfy!

1) I've pretty much been concentrating on my Fable cardi.
I'm done the lace charts, so it's just knitting and increasing from here on out. Despite all the hours I've put into it, it doesn't seem like I've gotten very far(it's maybe 5 or 6 inches deep). But I have to keep reminding myself - it's fingering, and knit in the round. That's a lot of stitches.

2) I was up dying yarn at Mom's today.I got a lot dyed up (including several new bases) and we will most likely be having an update next weekend.

3) Some of the colours I dyed are our spring shades from last year - including Aurora, Breath of Spring and Forget-Me-Not.

4) New base number one: Aristocat!
A GORGEOUS single ply alpaca/merino/silk in a DK weight. Mom knew I'd go gaga over this one, so she ordered it right away. She dyed some up last weekAnd I did some more today (including creating a beautiful new colourway called "Champagne Kisses" one of which is MINE MINE MINE)


5) New base number two: Alley Cat BFL!The same awesome twist of our regular Alley Cat, but with the decadence of BFL instead of Merino (and nylon). This one came home with me (Pirate's Cove) and will be socks for Dad. I think this is going to be great sock yarn. Mom's done up some beautiful colours.

6) New base number 3: We need your help with this one.

As you know - we have our lovely Twinkle Cat and Twinkle Cat Gold in a fingering weight. When our supplier introduced a lace weight version we were all over that. But today, when we went to dye it up - we discovered it's not quite the same base (just lighter). It is 20% silk, where the fingering is 20% nylon.

Now this isn't a bad thing - the base is soft and beautiful and I have no aversion to silk. But it does leave us in a bit of a conundrum - what do we call it?

Mom says just go ahead and call it Twinkle Cat Lace as we'd planned - after all our Slinky Cat Lace isn't quite the same as the fingering (lace is 80/20, fingering is 50/50)

But I think we should meld the two - and call it Twinky Cat! Mom thinks I'm crazy. What do you think?

What should we name our new lace yarn
Twinkle Cat Lace (Mama knows best)
Twinky Cat (BossCat rules)
pollcode.com free polls

7) We have two other bases that I'm hoping to get up in the store soon as well. Our Sophisticat - a sport weight alpaca/silk blend I'm using for my Crow Waltz Shawl. (I know know if we have actually dyed any of this up yet....)

We also have our Tabby Cat. It's a mix of superwash and non-superwash merino with a nice tweedy look. We have it in both a fingering and worsted weight.

We've had some dyed up for a while - and I used some for my Christmas Nessies - but we've never put it up in the shop.

I will be honest - what's stopped us is the fact that it doesn't feel as nice as our superwashes (Stray Cat, Fat Cat and Big Cat). Those yarns are butter soft and its hard for other yarns to measure up.

But I think we should let you decide - so keep an eye out for it soon.

7) Wandering Cat Ravelry knit along ends on Thursday - so if you've got a WIP you want to enter - you better turn it into an FO quick!

8 comments:

Monika said...

That Tabby Cat looks gorgeous! Can't wait for your next update!

Lee said...

Everything looks so gorgeous! I love that bright blue that you dyed up!

Anonymous said...

So much yumminess!!!!!

Heide said...

I am enamoured with the light blue fibery goodness in the top picture. When will it be available for the rest of us?

Minding My Own Stitches said...

Ahhh, all that lovely yarn! Next weekend in the shop, huh? I've got my credit card ready!

Knitting Linguist said...

Too many good things! (Well, there's no such thing as too many, but you know what I mean.) I love that tweedy yarn, and the BFL is just gorgeous! (Mmmm.... BFL....) Your sweater is looking lovely, and you're right - sweaters in fingering weight, while eminently wearable, are not fast. :)

Lee said...

I am druling over everything!

gayle said...

Dyeing up all those pretty colors must have helped with that 'Why-isn't-it-spring-yet' feeling...