Friday, September 28, 2007

Kauni Following

What a hiatus! It's been ten days since my last post. Work has been busy, and I'm feeling under the weather. Enough of the un-fun, fellow knitters.

Let's talk Kauni
When I posted about the exciting arrival of Multicolor-EQ (Rainbow) I knew that I wasn't going to knit Ruth's wonderful Kaffe Fasset-esque pattern. It's a beautiful pattern, but has too much horizontal focus for my frame!

I even thought about using the Kilim pattern in Sweaters from Camp with the square motif from Ruth's pattern.
*(no one online seems to have knit this pattern. Hrm. It doesn't have stellar instructions... but still!)
Why? It's knit vertically. Sleeve to front/back to sleeve. This is still a pretty great option for an easy knit- even if it isn't knit in the round.

I still wasn't happy. Way back in August a hunt for fair isle patterns started. Off to the Textile Center's library I went, where I picked up these:



I decided that I wanted a pattern that used approximately the same amount of yarn for the positive and negative space. I also wanted something that would have at least a partial verticle access-- or would not at least focus on horizontal striping. The best fit was "Turkish Maple" (open book above) from Meg Swanson's Knitting.

Before I swatched, I started stalking Kauni sweaters on Ravelry. Look at what turned up:

Kauni Experiment:Heidi's knitbits http://heidisknitbits.blogspot.com/
Love the simple geometry with neutral tones. Nice sweater.

Turkish motif: Liza at String Theory http://whitebirchfiberarts.blogspot.com/
Along the lines of what I was thinking about with the Turkish Maple sweater. Clearly, a Turkish motif, Verticle Emphasis, and Positive/Negative space use up the same amount of yarn real-estate. Great idea!
Now, here's the show stopper.

Maria from Passing Down Crazy (a mom-daughter knitting blog) is a fellow Minnesotan is in the midst of this amazing knitted work: Look at the wonderful 50/50 negative and positive space use! The perfect placement of color across the wheel with varing intensity (lightness/darkness). I'm not a huge fan of Fleur de Lis, but I love the leaf and Iris motif. Irises happen to be my favorite flowers!
The more I see the sweater, the more I love it.

Here's the downfall. She used a Dale of Norway stitch motif called "Damask".
A friend tried to order said pattern. The results?

Request: On Sep 25, 2007, at 1:02 PM, Deepa wrote Item #B22006 (Book) -- $5.50Dale 6023 DamaskWoman's cardigan to knit in two lengths. Adult sizes Sto XL.(6023)I would like to order this pattern. Please let me knowthe total cost and I will pay with Paypal.Thank you.Deepa

Reply: From: Velona Needlecraft [mailto:info@velona.com]Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2007 3:44 PMTo: Deepa Subject: Re: just sold out: pattern orderI am sorry but this was sold out a few days ago. Thankyou.

Bummer. I'm not going to lie. I've started charting the pattern in Excel.

7 comments:

Guinifer said...

Those are crazy beautiful - with the emphasis on crazy - cuz that is what I would be after trying to knit them!

Jess said...

They're all so gorgeous! I'm looking forward to seeing yours.

CathyCate said...

I saw that pattern too, and thought it was amazing. Hey, chart away! A motif is not exactly something one can patent; the whole sweater pattern, yes, but a shape, no, not if you're not talking 'bout the Golden Arches or something!

Stacey said...

Wow. Those are AMAZING!

Unknown said...

Thanks for the compliment on my cardi! (Mine is the Turkish motif - it's an adaptation of an Anna Zilboorg stitch pattern I pilfered from "Fancy Feet.")

The maple sweater is going to be lovely. Maria's takes the prize, though. It's unbearably beautiful.

CrazyFiberLady said...

I tried to order the Dale pattern as well after seeing that gorgeous work. I want that chart!! I might have to follow your lead and try to recreate it myself. Good luck!

Unknown said...

I charted it myself and knit a vest. Just finished it last week. It is gorgeous. I got very lucky with my colors-- it went dark around my "waist" and shimmery gold around my booby area! The steeks worked out. I did the whole thing without a pattern. My pictures are on Ravelry under Trilby.