Serious Color

I set aside my lovely moss green cardigan unfinished in favor of more colorful ventures. I don't know if the Oregon winter gray got to me or if the featherweight cardigan just dragged on too long (by no fault of it's own), but I jumped on the Noro badwagon a couple of months ago and haven't fallen off yet. Noro is a self striping Japanese yarn that comes in many luxurious bases (silk/wool, cotton/wool, etc). It also comes in some very vibrant colors. I'm on my fifth Noro project in a row. Here are the first four ...

While I was slogging through the featherweight cardi a friend made a pair of these mitts. They were so simple (and I already had this awesome yarn in my stash) so I decided to take a break and make some too. They were fast indeed and I had so much fun working with the bright colors ... that cardi is still hibernating. The mitts are made from Noro Taiyo (cotton/silk/nylon/wool).

I only burned through part of a skein with the mitts, but I still felt like I was on a spring cleaning roll, so I dug out this soft wool/angora/silk blend that's been adorning my sewing room for at least 2 years. This was made from not quite two skeins of Noro Kochoran and I made up the pattern as I went along.

Emboldened by several small sweater successes in the last year, I decided it was time to try something grander - a full length cardigan! For probably the first time in my knitting career, I selected a pattern before picking the yarn. Usually it's the other way around - I fall in love with a yarn and then figure out what to do with it. I didn't actually have enough of any one yarn in my stash to do this, so I made a trip to the local shop and found this neat colorway that reminds me of lightening. None of these colors would have seduced me on their own, but I found the unusual combination very compelling. This is my Noro Kureyon (wool) Catwalk Lightening Cardigan. This was my first ever pieced sweater and it even has pockets! I can do anything now.

I fell in love with this Noro waistcoat pattern and after surviving Catwalk Lightening, pieces, pockets, and all I had no trouble diving right in. I had some of this Noro Taiyo yarn already, but not enough so I had to order more. Luckily, the yarn has so many colors to begin with, I had no trouble blending the two dye lots. The back was knitted with two skeins at the same time, alternating every two rows to create a broader stripe pattern.