Sunday, October 16, 2011

Cold Weather No More?

I've been closely keeping a eye on the weather in Baton Rouge.  It's supposed to go up to 90 degrees there today, and that makes me nervous.  Why?  Not so much because I'm not really a hot weather person (though I'm not), but rather, because of the implications for my knitting.

Every knitter in a cold weather zone knows that fall is knitting season.  I start getting excited about knitting every July 4, when I bust out my poolside knitting for my family's annual Fourth of July picnic.  What follows is a rapid slide into sweater season... by the end of October, I've usually gotten at least one sweater and a couple of fun accessories off the needles.  By the time the really frigid weather comes in January and February, I'm more than prepared.  Knitting is not only fun, but practical, and a great skill to know in the face of the inevitable zombie apocalypse (or most other apocalypses that don't involve a plunge into extreme heat, I guess.)

So what does one knit in a town where it never snows and that boasts that the weather is warm all year long?  I guess I'll have to learn, because I know people who knit down south, and I've already located two yarn shops and at least one knitting group in Baton Rouge.  In the meantime, I've been knitting here in Pennsylvania, and have more or less tried to strike a balance with early fall accessories and lightweight sweater patterns.  We'll see how they go over in the Red Stick.  Here are a few that I've finished recently:

The Ireth Carnesîr Capelet
I may have mentioned the Ireth Carnesîr Capelet in an earlier blog post; either way, I know I mentioned designer The Jane Victoria earlier this fall.  This pattern was at the top of my knitting queue this season, and I knit it in Madeline Tosh Vintage, in the colorway "Kale," which is an awesome brownish plum color that I've been admiring since I first saw it in person last summer in Boston.  I accented the finished garment with handmade stamped muslin ribbon from my friend Alura (VampireGothChick) of Moonspell Crafts on Etsy - I'm kind of addicted to her hand-stamped ribbons and to her shop in general.

Lúthien Ar-Feiniel Opera-Length Fingerless Gloves
The Lúthien Ar-Feiniel Opera-Length Fingerless Gloves are another pattern from The Jane Victoria, and appeared on my Fall Fashion Wishlist earlier this fall.  I did these in Tosh Vintage as well.  The colorway was "Antique Lace," and once again, I finished the project with Alura's hand stamped ribbon.

Rippled
"Rippled" is a new pattern from Laura Nelkin that caught my eye right away.  It's a super quick knit that you can do in an evening, and she makes it even easier by making kits available in a couple of different colors.  I decided to try one out, and I must say that it was well worth the money.  The yarn was top quality, the color was great, and the kit came with all of the coordinating beads (the pattern requires two different types.)  The pattern is also available separately through Ravelry.  I enjoyed this little project so much that I may order a second kit in black.

So, which of these projects are going to fly in the deep south?  The necklace should be ok, but I hope I'm not resigning myself to a life of nothing but knitted jewelry.  I'm pretty sure the capelet will be useful temperature-wise, perhaps even more so that in the northeast, where it tends to get too cold for such things as soon as fall rolls around.  But will the style be too "cold weather" to wear in BR?  The gloves I'm simply not sure about... they're arm length and worsted weight, and might just be too warm for my new digs.

I guess I'll find out soon enough... as of next Sunday, I'll officially be a resident of Louisiana.  Life is such an adventure, LOL, right down to the potential overhaul of my knitting agenda.

1 comment:

  1. Wow envious of your talent to knit these beauties. You should try to get more Brits, we're just about to be hit with our first frosts.

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