Yarns to Love
In the Grip of Lichen and Lace
I don’t really know what to say here.
I keep knitting the same sweater, over and over.
What is wrong with me? Rather, what is RIGHT with me? I have got a groove the size of the Grand Canyon working, and I just can’t stop!
It feels a little like that time when Kay knitted 50 ballband dishcloths. Or that time I collected Christopher Radko glass ornaments. Or when I took over my son’s Thomas the Tank Engine collection because he wasn’t acquiring new engines fast enough. I cared about Thomas the Tank Engine so, so much.
I’m not sure when this will end, but I am having a swell time at it.
Left: Easel No. 2: Anzula For Better or Worsted, colorway Dark Matter.
Right: easel No. 1: Lichen and Lace Worsted Superwash, colorway Pressed Flowers.
The combination of simple pattern and ever-changing yarn has got me hooked. I thought two Easel Sweaters were going to be enough Easel Sweaters for me.
Oh, no.
I’m well into my third Easel Sweater, the pattern featured in MDK Field Guide No. 3: Wild Yarns. I got the bug for Easel No. 3 the minute our ecommerce genie Liz opened up our latest shipment of a new shade of Lichen and Lace Superwash Worsted.
It’s called Marsh Lily. It’s like Pressed Flowers’s cheerful cousin. It is unabashedly light hearted, a real mood enhancer.
I love this sweater. It’s a simple thing—four pieces of knitting sewed together. Set-in sleeve. Crewneck collar with a bit of roll to it (though I forgot the roll part on Easel No. 2, aka GreenEasel, so I gotta go back and add the roll!).
I think of Sue McCain’s elemental pattern as a delivery system for wild yarns.
Last week, on a ramble with Hubbo through New England, I saw gardens that looked pretty much like these colors. Or, maybe, I was so delirious that gardens started looking like my knitting.
HELP ME!
I almost googled “marsh lily” to see what an actual marsh lily looks like, but I decided to just let go and trust that Megan Ingman is not messing with us when she names a color Marsh Lily.
It’s doing interesting things the way Pressed Flowers did interesting things—but it’s in no way predictable.
This superwash blocks out so well—it is satisfying to give it a soak, block it, then watch how the stitches even out.
Part of the fun is seeing how the front and back meet during the sewing up.
The Anzula on the left looks like two different colorways, doesn’t it? Really, really different. But Charlie of Anzula explained to me that the darker shade occurs in the dye pot when that skein is closer to the bottom, in hotter water than the skeins at the top. The paler shade spent its time farther away from the heat.
Easel No. 3 will be BlueEasel, I think. Though there’s a lot of white in here.
If this sort of madness appeals to you, head over to the Shop for your own Marsh Lily experiment. When you order multiple skeins, we are working hard to match up skeins for you that are friends with each other.
It was kind of wacky to knit Easel No. 3 while driving around New England last week—while simultaneously wearing Easel No. 1. No stopping me now . . .
You are approaching the point of having as many Easel Sweaters as I have Eileen Fisher linen box tops.
I like to think of you sitting in the Air Conditioning wrapped in variegated wool.
Oh my, that yarn is filled with beautiful surprises. I love the reverse Easel! I just finished my Charred Coal and blogged about my mods yesterday. I can’t wait for cooler weather…
We need cooler weather here too, but you’re making me want to start a sweater. As for the dishcloths, I am approaching Kay’s record.
You’re just….enthusiastic!
Uh, oh. The boys and Kermit may have to stage an intervention here. Quick! Rearrange all the tank engines on the mantle!
Ann, we need to see the pics of you wearing these oh-so-cute sweaters!
Thomas the Tank Engine collection. We still have them all, in wood, metal and plastic though I’ve been told by my 8 year old to sell or give them away. Wah! I’m totally a hoarder at heart (hello, stash!) so I am going to hang on to every one of them for when I have grandkids.
I thoroughly approve of this “more is more” approach to Easel sweaters!
Fun fact: Meg taught me magic loop one day when I walked into her shop as new knitter 7 years ago. She was still the owner of Lettuce Knit in TO at the time. I had no idea of how venerable she was/is – and I’m sure she wouldn’t remember me at all – but it was one of my formative knitting moments.
I thought I had it bad because I had to bang out a second Stopover. I’m still dreaming of Stopover No. 3, but you’ve got me beat. Nice Easels!
This looks great
Did you hit up any yarn shops on your trip and, if so, which ones?
Humph! I’ve got six skeins from MDK sitting in stash based on reading your previous Easel posts, when I realized that I simply had to knit one too. I’m trying to ignore them and focus on Granito so that I can somewhat keep up with the MDK KAL. Considering that it’s in the upper 80’s with near 100% humidity here in South Carolina until probably the end of October, I figure I’ll have plenty of time to knit them both before our two weeks of sweater weather arrives in mid-January.
I love the pressed flower colorway and the finished sweater!
The Easel Sweater pattern specifies sport weight yarn, yet you have used worsted weight. I think your versions are so lovely I would like to make one too. Would 6 skeins of the main colour be sufficient for a medium size, and 2 of the contrast?
I hope there’s still some in the shop, I’ve been wondering so long!