fine-grained fantasy

Hooray! After the sober report of knitting progress come the Wild Future-Knitting Fantasies. This is the fun bit.

I've finished both fronts of Ivy, and have cast on for the sleeves; I'm trying very, very hard not to remember that I despise sleeves, and instead to tell myself that stocking stitch sleeves are absolutely perfect for reading along to. I am also congratulating myself at being half-way through a cardigan knitted on 3mm needles. Yes. 3mm. Call me Vera Lynn, or whichever 1940s diva you like; I'm knitting at almost vintage tension. And this spring, I've decided, is going to be all about the vintage tension. Fine knits are the way forward. No, I will never get sick and throw up my 3mms in disgust. Never!

Last night I dreamed I was in Berlin again, and shamefully, I did not dream of museums, cityscapes, or even dear friends I had left behind; no, I dreamed of Fadeninsel, the blessed yarn shop. Tragic, no? All the more so because here, in the slightly less money-obsessed North, the local yarn shop is still thriving in dusty side streets, little havens run by little old ladies filled with acrylic, some pure wool and just a few luxe yarns, all of which you can touch and feel. Like this one, which I found on special offer:



Vintage Jaegar yarn, lambswool and angora, and hence springlike - which is why I photographed it in daffodils - despite its autumnal rich brown colour. I have fourteen 20g balls of the stuff, which unfortunately gives me no yardage, but hey! this is what bargain yarn is all about, right? Living dangerously. So I think a fine, tight knit is in order. Something very like Knitty's Thermal, close-fitting and slightly textured; I have another pattern for a similar knit in a Verena magazine, with a cabled stitch that eats up yarn, but which looks foxier. Maybe I will drag out a stitch directory and experiment. That would be fun.

And then, there is this, the very pick of eBay yarn:


proper berry-coloured red-haired flattering DK yarn, incredibly soft, pure wool, pure cheap. I'm still looking for cardiganal inspiration for this one, and am thinking of - eeek! - using that damn white-elephant SnB knitter's notebook to actually design one. This, of course, involves Maths. I am crap at maths. No really, crap, but crap. Believe me. Watch out for baggy, sorry knits, sometime very very soon. But at least they will show my Creativity!

And then, for summer, there's this poor yarn, fabulous, fabulous raspberry-coloured Russian angora, which I've been neglecting for ages:



It's beautiful. I keep thinking it should be a shawl, but I have now decided, firmly, Look, I Don't Wear Shawls, What Am I , Miss Havisham? So it's going to be a fine lacy cardigan instead, quite possibly Knitty's Serrano - I'm loving Laura Chau's elegant, detailed designs right now, and even though I know some oneline knitters have had problems with this one, I'm more than equal to its sneaky intricacies, right? And that will be that.

In the meantime, though, although I am in a provincial, indeed rustic location, with little call for glittery mohair, I will damn well finish the Harlot's Progress as soon as I've stitched up Ivy. I will I WILL. I owe it to the Kidsilk Haze, so I do. Luxe yarns demand a little loyalty, I think.