Inspiration
New and Exclusive to MDK: Periwinkle Sheep’s Glorious Color
We have had the best time collaborating with Karin Maag-Tanchak to create a palette of color that makes the most of Norah Gaughan’s extraordinary cable projects in Modern Daily Knitting Field Guide No. 9: Revolution.
Truly exquisite, available only here at MDK, this palette of nine shades is the stuff of sweatery dreams. Merino wool superwash, in a DK weight.
Pine Forest, Ballet, Geranium, Hydrangea, Olive, Dove, Bisque, Beaujolais, and Cadet.
These are all colors we landed on because each will be a beautiful sweater.
It all started when Melanie Falick, the creative director and editor of the Field Guides, created the palette for Field Guide No. 9. One of our favorite days is whenever Melanie sends us her latest color ideas. (She writes about her process in “Picking Colors: My Very Unscientific Process.”)
This palette was created with the idea that these colors are to be used for Norah Gaughan’s dazzling cable designs.
Karin started work, and the goal was to arrive at the subtle tonal color that is a signature of Periwinkle Sheep—colors with a lot of life in them, but not too busy.
Calligraphy Cardigan, in the PERIWINKLE SHEEP shade Hydrangea.
Karin has been a knitter since second grade, and in the past has owned a local yarn shop. Maybe that’s why her Periwinkle Sheep yarns are so special: she knows what a knitter wants.
Karin dyes her yarns in small batches, in her studio in Albany, New York. The result of considerable back-and-forth experimentation, Periwinkle Sheep Merino DK features that thing we love about hand-dyed yarns: the color shifts, ever so subtly, so that the cablework in the Field Guide No. 9 designs really shines.
And—especially important when choosing a yarn for a sweater project—she dyes with great care to create skeins that can be knitted into a sweater with confidence that the color shifts will be harmonious.
All the designs in Field Guide No. 9 are worked at the same gauge—20 stitches/4″—so Periwinkle Sheep Merino DK works for the Liberty Tree Pullover and Elaine’s Capelet as well.
We love them all. Thank you, Karin!
I am fortunate to live in the Albany area and get to see Karin and her yarn at local fiber fests,shops,and her studio.
If you’ve never knit with Perwinkle sheep yarn you are in for a treat! Beautiful colors and lovely bases. Her gradients make amazing shawls! I’m so happy to see her yarns showcased in Field Guide #9.
Oh Ellen. What a wonderful thing to say Thank you.
Nobody does color like Karin! Periwinkle Sheep yarn is one of my favorites!
Thank you so much 🙂
So I’m terribly tempted to make the short-sleeve cardi but using the yoke design from the capelet. But how to choose between Periwinkle Sheep Merino and Julie Asselin’s Hektos? Oh dear.
stunning colors! how to choose??
Thank YOU Ann and Kay! It’s such an honor to be here.
Karin’s Periwinkle Yarns have been my one of favorites for years. (It would be embarrassing to acknowledge the size of my Periwinkle stash!) If you have not had the pleasure of using it, you MUST! Other yarn will take a back seat! I can’t wait to get the new MDK field guide. What a great partnership!
These are beautiful! But I’m slightly terrified of superwash yarns after a few mishaps with them growing like crazy after washing. Does anyone have experience with this yarn and how many needle sizes smaller to go? Or do the Fieldguide patterns compensate for that? Or is my panic unnecessary? Thanks!!!
I know what you mean, but I wash and dry a swatch and it tells me what I need to know. It’s a leap of faith to trust the swatch while knitting, but it works for me! The exception is hats: I either don’t knit a hat with superwash, or I don’t block it. 😉
I have had LOTS of experience with this yarn and can tell you that it behaves nicely as it should. The colors on the monitor are lovely but in person it’s a whole other experience. I generally find that my needle size corresponds perfectly with this yarn as called for in the patterns. I would say try the yarn…and then look at her other bases….too many to list here but her Watercolors sock is a particular favorite if you look at my stash and don’t get me started on the Delirium. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!!!
I especially love the deep saturated colors in this collection: Beaujolais, Cadet, Pine, and Geranium. However, am I the only one who also likes a nice, rich brown? I chose Lopi’s Chocolate Heather as the main color for my Stopover sweater (my first!) and have really liked the warmth and coziness of both the sweater and the color. (No disrespect intended to those who are called to Ballet or any of the paler colors!)
OK, I went to Ravelry and saw that Karin has also made some nice semi-solid browns, namely Autumn in the Hudson Valley and Dark Suede!
Still miss shopping at the Periwinkle Sheep yarn shop in Albany!! So nice to see the name and Karin’s name popping up at MDK.
I love the Periwinkle Sheep colors! The Cadet and Beaujolais are gorgeous and this cute sweater will look sweet once I decide which color to pick!