Feb 5, 2012

Chart Love

Do you remember when I won the fabulous giveaway that French Press Knits held in December?  If you don't, I'll remind you ... I was the lucky recipient of these:



Yarn by Annie Claire is a small indie spinner and dyer and the yarn I won is an organic wool that is a bit rough but extremely textured which is a real pleasure to work with.  When I thanked Annie for these beauties, I found out that she was working on a new pattern, and I volunteered to test knit it for her.  My other two test knits haven't been very successful -- neither worked out for me -- but I haven't wanted to give up on test knitting for designers as I think of these projects as great learning experiences for me and I like the idea that I might be helping someone finalize a creative idea.

Toyon


The pattern is Jaavesi, and I'm happy to say that this test knit is fantastic!  I was a little apprehensive at first since the pattern is only charted, and I'm a real novice at chart-reading, but Annie was really supportive (and her chart is perfectly written).  I just may be a convert now.


Chart A completed

12 comments:

  1. Charts used to scare me too. Now theyr'e really not a big deal anymore. I think that there is a time and place for them. It's very cool that you are conquering your fear of them. That is such a pretty pattern also!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow that yarn is gorgeous!Lucky you.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh my, that's gorgeous!! Lucky lady :) Hope you feel better soon, rest up. Happy to hear you got hooked on Downton Abbey too. I'm in the middle of Season 2 now and oh my is it good!

    ReplyDelete
  4. That is certainly looking lovely! I particularly love the color of the yarn, it is very natural!

    ReplyDelete
  5. How lovely that you are giving something back with your giveaway yarn! Looks to me like you have charts sorted - gorgeous!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Charts are so hard sometimes. I love that color!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I have grown to love charts as well. They help me to visualize what the pattern is supposed to feel like. You knitting looks beautiful. Oh and that yarn....YUM!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I love the shades of these yellows. You pick such awesome colors to work with.

    ReplyDelete
  9. That looks great! I love that color!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Charts and I are not the best of friends either. If they don't have a zillion symbols I usually do OK. But as I get older, it seems like they get smaller and smaller (smile). This is lovely yarn. Quite an unusual shade of yellow.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Charts are great once we've tried them.
    They are certainly easier to glance at as a reminder.

    Your test knit looks great ! ! !

    hugs
    Gerry

    ReplyDelete
  12. what a lovely colour! congrats on winning! receiving yarn in the mail is so much fun, isn't it!

    ReplyDelete