Monday, January 22, 2007

Swatches

I've been knitting swatches the last few days for 3 Kittens. Here are some of the ones that I've completed.

Clockwise from the top, first is Noro Wakaba, a 100% cotton ribbon yarn. I don't think we have much in the store - I believe it is discontinued. It's a bear to work with, especially with pointy needles, but I love the reverse side fabric - it reminds me of a barnacle's shape. Next, is Berocco Cotton Twist which is a beautiful cotton yarn plied with rayon which gives it a lovely sheen (unfortunately, you can't see the color very well in this photo - it's a dark blue with black rayon). Third is Uruguay Chunky, a merino/alpaca/silk blend, from Queensland Collection. I really enjoyed working with this yarn. It has nice stitch definition and flows well. The last one is Caviar by Reynolds, an acrylic/wool blend plied with a strand of metallic thread. It is spun in a thick & thin texture and produces an interesting fabric.

One of my partners sent me a link to an article that you might find interesting. It's all about how mathmeticians are using crochet and knitting to make models of difficult-to-understand concepts for their students - particularly hyperbolic planes and Lorenz manifolds. The article can be viewed at http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20061223/bob10.asp. I really want to make a hyperbolic plane at some point. Not sure what for, but I think it could make a cool decoration for the shop.

I've been doing a ton of work on the store website, www.3kittensneedlearts.com. I'd love to get everyone's reaction. I am having some difficulties uploading photos of our most popular patterns, Sam the Ram and Sue the Ewe, but I'll keep working on it.

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