Letters
Mohair Dreams
Dear Kay,
I brought two skeins of laceweight mohair/silk yarn with me to the MDK Knitting Getaway. That’s all. Keeping it simple. Trying for something easy. Wanting to start a project that would forever be a tender souvenir of that weekend.
I had a variation in mind for the Albers Shawl that appears in MDK Field Guide No. 6: Transparency. The original version calls for Shibui Reed and Pebble. There it is on the right, as drapey and slinky as linen can be.
On the left is the version I’m working on now, in Neighborhood Fiber Co. Loft. Druid Hill is the brown; Mt. Vernon is the background color.
The feel of this weightless, airy fabric is so lovely. This silk/mohair blend is one of the great transformers in the world of yarn—I steamed this piece for about ten seconds, and suddenly my furry little friend smoothed and relaxed as if it had just come home from a long trip.
Which is kind of how I feel, too!
When I got home, I immediately dove into Deep Stash Zone No. 2, where all my Rowan Kidsilk Haze waits patiently for a new obsession.
Here, the Rowan shade known as Jelly has joined the party. (It looks a lot like the Loft shade Belair.) I continue to be surprised at the way the vibrant colors dissolve when knitted. Such a saturated color in the skein, so airy a fabric.
We have a bunch of Loft in the MDK Shop, and I see all sorts of ideas for playing around with Amy Christoffers’s clever pattern. The marling is a simple matter of knitting the two colors at the same time, then dropping one color when working the background. The squares connect at the corners, so you don’t need to cut yarn to keep the squares flowing.
Meanwhile, I Just Got a Commission
The lad (Clif, he who recently decamped to New York for a summer in the clothing world, he who is considerably more aesthetically engaged than I’ll ever be) (here’s his site, Middleman, in case you’re in the market for archival menswear) (of course you are) texted me with a photo and a question.
Could I knit him a sweater like the one in the photo?
Something in black, gray, and white.
Mohair.
In the tradition of Johnny Rotten.
Could I? OH MAN.
In case you weren’t following the Sex Pistols in the late ’70s, here’s a glimpse of Johnny Rotten’s basic sweater style. Pretty much L. L. Bean meets Satan.
Please stay tuned.
Love,
Ann
I so look forward to your daily missives! At first, I must admit, they kind of bugged me because I thought it was kind of a hard push for Transparency. But everyday I read them, perused the web site and began to think my my life would not be complete unless I made one, or all, of the items in Transparency. I finally ordered the book and it arrived a few days ago, very promptly, I might add. Now I don’t know which to make first, the Shakerag top or the scarf! I love your daily notes, look forward to them, drool and dream daily. Thanks for wearing me down! 🙂
Thank you, Karen! We wait months to begin knitting the projects in the Field Guides, due to our production schedule, so there’s definitely some pent-up exuberance at work. So glad you’re here–we have a summer of fun ahead.
The commission sounds so fun! I love it when my daughter actually requests something…
Aaah, the Sex Pistols. In high school, we would stick safety pins in our cheeks and head to the Village feeling very cool (we were not cool, we were working and middle class kids from Queens with great aspirations).
I cannot wait to see the sweater you knit up for Clif!
Me too! LL Bean meets Satan!
I can’t wait to see what you concoct! I love the sweater with the red cuff…
I am in the camp with Karen, below. I just ordered three of the MDK field guides!! Love you girls!
The commission looks so StevenBe!!!
Have fun with it.
I was thinking exactly the same thing!
Your commission is a job for Classic Elite La Gran Mohair if ever there was one. Hurry while it still exists.
Girl! Talk about burying the lead! JOHNNY ROTTEN!! That’s so awesome. I actually met him at a college music seminar when I was a totally star struck teen. You have to sing this to Clif when you give him the sweater. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8Ne9sRcSrM
omg Johnny Rotten sweater.
Stash diving for Kidsilk Haze to knit another Albers scarf and I haven’t quite finished the first one yet
A commission request from offspring – knitting Mom’s dream come true!
Clif, quit asking your mother silly questions. OF COURSE she can knit the thing. “L. L. Bean meets Satan” — easy. Even easier (and smellier) if she can convince the neighbor’s dog to wear it 24/7 for a few months. Really, the only question she would have is: What size?
Time to update my MDK Field Guide Collection. Before diving down the mohair/silk rabbit hole I need to know if you are marling in your mohair version.
I have seen her, and she is indeed marling in mohair. It’s flufftastic.
I marl, indeed I marl. Dark yarn for the rectangles creates more marliness; if you use colors close in value (light vs dark), the marliness is less obvious, more subtly mottled.
I AM SO INTO MARLING.
Frame 8 of the middleman lookbook appears to be the kind of sweater he wants. You can see how great it will look on him! I do like the black white beige red green classic, though.
What size needles did you use for this new loft version? 6 like in the pattern for the reed & pebble? This looks like the perfect thing to make with some of my stash, including the 2 lofts I got, originally intending to use for the cowl.
I’m using a size 7 for this. It’s giving me a width of about 16 1/2″. The original pattern specification is 13″ wide, so this is quite a bit larger. One skein of Loft looks like it will give me 18 rectangles’ worth of background (if that makes sense!), so this will take me two skeins of Loft for the background, plus probably 1 skein for the rectangles if I used just one color. (I’m using bits and bobs, so I can’t be quite sure.)
I do think the improvisation possibilities for this are great–the Field Guide has ideas for possible modifications.
Having a swell time staring at blue yarn and wondering, Is that too blue?
Thanks so much, Ann! I am going to give it a try!
Clif is so kooL! Such a shock to see he’s a tad older than in your furst MDK book.
I just went down a rabbit hole following Clif–Middleman, Eugene Lang, The New School. Love that you’re promoting him, love his passion and love how intent he is in putting his point of view out in the world. Clif is super cool — well done, Mohair Knitting Mom!
Ha! I did exactly the same thing!
Should throw a random round or two of jelly into the monochrome Johnny Rotten for shock value. After all, JR and his ilk are all about the shock. (And I love a pop of neon lime with my greys and blacks). Now have to dive into the stash to find some kid silk (I think I have some charcoal, silvery grey, 2 shades of burgundy…). My field guide arrived yesterday and I can’t wait to start something!
LL Bean meets Satan made me snort out loud