January 2019

Winter Whites

Winter. Winter is officially here. We had real snow in Toronto only in the middle of January this year. Good timing! I just finished my 'white project' :-)

Last January. I started it last January on the way from Florida - on the road. You can see the yarn I planned to use. I have 8 different yarns in this knit. Almost all of these shades of white are silk blends from SANJOSILK.

Yarn Store. Their shop is located in the Silk Weaving Studio on Granville Island in Vancouver where I bought the yarn in 2016.
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January 2019. It was on and off knitting during the year, and I finished the cardigan right before the first frost.


Tatiana's Day. January 25th is Tatiana's day in Russia.

Happy "T - Day" to me  and other Tatianas :-))  

Silk Blends. "Although silk is so very yummy on its own, sometimes we want it blended with something else for the special qualities that other fibre brings. Often these blends create texture, either while you're working, or in the post-handcraft finishing. Or sometimes they're just particularly delicious." Totally agree with the SANJOSILK team.
Tussah. The light brown yarn in the picture is Tussah/Noil Fleck. What is it? "Tussah (aka Tassar) is a wild silk. Tussah moths have resisted domestication forever. You have to love that. Tussah is a warm tan colour, and has a bit more texture than Bombyx. Muga is the Empress of Silk. From the Assam region of India, Muga has a beautiful golden colour that defies description. Pedencal Tussah is the tussah from the pedencus (foot) of the cocoon. Rare and naturally brown." (from Sanjosilkwebsite)
Sanjosilk. Sanjosilk yarn is amazing. "We source our silks from Europe, Japan and India, buying the best quality and most beautiful yarns." (from Sanjosilkwebsite

Buttons. For this cardigan, I used metal maple leaf buttons. Since I did not have enough, one button is different.
Lace. I always wanted to combine knitting with fabric, and I started with lace. A 10 cm lace strip was inserted in the knitting.
Textures. "These are the pizazz yarns, the ones that get all the attention. They strut and preen and everyone coos over them. They deserve it." (from Sanjosilk website). I used very simple patterns like stocking stitch or garter stitch because the focus was on the texture.

Cold is here. This cardigan is not a winter knit - it is not warm or cosy. It's airy and light - so let's wait for the summer to fully enjoy wearing it!
Red?  "When the weather turns chilly, our preferences often turn to velvety, warming red .... wines ..." (from Compliments of LCBO, Holiday 2018) So true! Same with knits. We want velvety, warm, red knits ... 
White? Made in winter, this cardigan looks like summer's fresh, chilled wine ;-) I have other 'winter whites' - made in winter white knits.