Work-In-Progress Wednesday #12

What with crazy yarn festivals and some big life changes in the works, I haven't had a chance to knit a whole lot lately. However, I do have a couple of things to show you so I'll give a quick update on those. (My apologies for the poorly-lit photos. Rainy day over here!)

First Garment:

Valley Yarns Berkshire Bulky, colorway Stone Blue

My bulky vest  is slowly progressing! It has been seamed together, had a bottom hem added, and has armhole edgings. It is currently waiting to have stitches picked up to knit a big ribbed collar. In the meantime, it's being attacked by Darwin.

Syrnix #2:

Malabrigo Yarn Rasta, colorway Indiecita

The yarn for this cowl was reborn from a previous one that just did not work for me anymore. It was frogged and reknit into another sample of my upcoming design, Syrinx. The design has been tech edited and is currently being test knit. It should be ready for release next week! (Remember you can sign up for my email list if you wish to be notified directly about new designs.) This one will probably be a holiday gift.

Snallygaster:

Cephalopod Yarns Beastie, colorway Snallygaster

This hat is an aran-weight version of my recently-released design, Huacaya. I am knitting it in a brand new yarn from CY called Beastie which is 60% superwash Merino wool, 30% alpaca, and 10% silk. It is tightly-plied, dense, springy, and essentially unlike any other alpaca-containing yarn I've knit with except that it does have the occasional alpaca guard hair. I'm very happy that they are carrying a thicker, aran weight yarn and I think its springiness would work very well in a sweater or cabled design. However, I do find myself wishing that its alpaca content was a more defining feature. Pre-blocking, it seems to lack that wonderful alpaca drape and silk shine that I was expecting. We'll have to see what it looks like post-blocking...

And that's all I've really worked on lately, all other projects are as they were last time. Click the image below to see the WIPs of others!