I've loved Madelinetosh yarns from the minute I first saw them. In fact, I would say that it is by far the yarn line that is my favorite of them all. Which is really hard to say, considering all the amazing yarns out there. I love the squishy yarn bases and the deep, saturated, complex colors. If Madtosh was the only yarn I knit with for the rest of my life, I would definitely be a happy girl! If you frequent the online knitting message boards, then you may already know that May is the annual monthly celebration of Madelinetosh yarns (fondly known as "MadMay"). I thought it would be fitting that I finally do something with my Tosh Tea Cakes set I bought from Jimmy Beans Wool last winter.
Isn't it adorable?
What is a tea cake, you ask? Basically, approximately 200 yards of different Tosh Merino Light divided into samples of eleven different colorways. I'd been looking for some kind of colorwork pattern for this set, and initially leaned toward fingerless mittens ... until I saw fine tune by Joji Locatelli. Perfect! Garter stitch, short rows, and fun accent stripes. As you can see, I'm using the tea cake samples as the stripes. But what should my main body color be?
I started off with Alabaster (above). In the skein I love this color--a really warm, peachy cream. Since I plan to mostly use the brighter oranges and yellows, I initially thought that an orange-based color would be a good idea. But the more I knit, I just didn't love it. So instead of plugging along, I decided to listen to my internal voice and switch things up. And I am sooo glad I did! I switched to Astrid Gray (below), and it's just so much more my style. And the cooler color is a much better contrast with the tea cake sampler colors. See how much better the yellow "pops" below?
Needless to say, I'm really excited by how this project is turning out. It's a fun, easy knit and perfect for my summer brain. My next decision is which colors to choose from my tea cake set. It looks like I'll easily be able to get two stripes from each sample, and there are only twelve accent stripes in the pattern total. I've narrowed it down to the two sets below, and then only real difference being the reddish brown in the top set or sticking with another yellow in the bottom. Which looks better to you?
I can't decide, I love them both!
6 comments:
I hadn't seen that pattern yet! She really pumps out some lovely designs. I think I like the bottom combo better, but I'm somewhat anti-brown. Using grey as the main color was an excellent choice!
The grey for the main colour is an absolute delight, as you say it really makes the yellow pop. All the colours are gorgeous.
Bottom set is more cohesive to me, but go with what floats your boat! The top just seems like a random color was thrown in.
Love the pattern and the colours are perfect - really like your second combination.
Awesome project! Just to be contrary I like the top combination the best :)
Love the second color combination!
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