Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Claire Patterson Yarn

I received this yarn in the mail from Claire Patterson Design Knitwear - 3 Skeins of fine boucle destined for that slim hipped no-bust 60's pattern.
I love Claire's designs and colours but I unfortunately can't show you them as she has no web site. Apparently she has a regular stall at the Balmain markets as well as her annual visit to the Darling Harbour Craft show. The yarn was customed dyed and it has come out in the exact shade I wanted.

The skein is draped over a handsome specimen of Banksia Spinulosa in the back yard. A bush that is much loved by the birdlife in our area and which received a viscous pruning from a flock of Black Cockatoos last year. Those birds are like punk rockers of the bird world - attitude in bulk, loud, noisy, destructive and raucous. I still love having them visit .

Here, in the shade of a Tree Fern, Cyathea cooperi, is the lovely yarn all wound up and ready to go. It swatches to a very springy, very light fabric and despite my early misgivings I think the 300g I ordered will be well sufficient. The only problem I have is calculating the tension as there is no stitch definition - I can see some eye strain arising out of this task.

2 comments:

Coleen said...

That yarn looks beautiful! It's hard to tell from the pictures... is it green or beige? Happy knitting!

Pamela Lee said...

I generally use one of those small fluoro torches which have a reasonably large flat face to help me work out the tension of textured yarns like this. In a not too brightly lit room, I place the tension square over the front of the torch, and lay my tape measure on top. When the torch is switched on, the stitches are then backlit and are usually quite a bit easier to count.

I hope this explanation makes sense, and is some assistance in minimizing the eye strain. :)