Green Machine

So, I am trying to make the best of this left over yarn from a sweater I designed for the next Stitch and Bitch Book (Name drop, name drop) and need your opinions about what I'm making with it.

The sweater that produced this excess of yarn was a Fair Isle vest pattern done in a bunch of different greens. I wish I could show you the photos of the project, but you'll see them soon enough in the actual book! I will tell you though that the book is all patterns for MEN and the model dudes are super cute! Oh Mans!

The editors of the book helped pick the yarn: Nature Spun Sport weight from Brown Sheep Company. It comes in a zillion colors and isn't too expensive, which is always a concern when designing for a book. You can't really expect people the pay $400 to make your sweater! All together, the greens look great together, but individually, they are not my favorite.

The Nature Spun is 100% wool, which I can't complain about, but the color just does not have the depth that I am used to with the smaller dyelots of, for lack of a better word, expensive yarns. Commercially produced yarns are like Crayons. The colors are vivid, opaque and will not vary from box to box or store to store. Smaller companies like Koigu, dye their yarn in very small dyelots of about 24 skeins. It just makes it so every store gets a totally different looking yarn! Look at the photo below of two different skeins of Koigu Painters pallet in two dyelots:




I like this kind of yarn for many reasons, but mostly because it supports others artists like me. The colors seem to glow and I'm fully convinced that when the spirit is given room to move... things are just better! You know what I mean? I commend the Brown Sheep Company however for making natural fibers affordable, since most inexpensive brands are all fake.

So I made a harf using my left over yarn and think it turned out ok. The plain green seemed a little bland to me, so I added contrasting white trim. I also did a curved edge for the button band, which I like better than the straight version on all the others. It reminds me of stuff my mom and teachers might have worn in the early eighties. Maybe a wrap around skirt with contrasting piping or a monogrammed sweater... that's what I was going for.

What do you guys think?