Tuesday, April 29, 2008

an armchair traveler - Irish Sea

My order from the Three Irish Girls arrived yesterday and it is beautiful beyond belief! As you all know by this point, I'm a fan of watery, ocean-y colours: greens, blues, green-blue, seafoam, marine with a little bit of seashell tints thrown in. I can appreciate other colours and even love to use them when I'm creating for other people, but the water is what I love best.

The ladies at Three Irish Girls have nailed it. Completely. Here is their new colourway, Irish Sea, which they devised based on my description of what I like best:

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The lighter skein on the bottom is Cormac, one of their special monthly colourways. It coordinates beautifully, don't you think?

I ordered three different types of yarn because this was my first experience with the Three Irish Girls and I wanted to know what the types were like to the touch. I need to touch yarn in person to know if I really like it, and ordering variety for small projects when I'm starting out with an online company is very useful.

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On the left top you see Adorn, their sock or fingering weight yarn. It is wool with a touch of nylon and a whopping 430 yards - enough for a lace shoulderette shawl or some pretty tall knee-socks. Adorn takes the dye in a more saturated way, so you can expect the colours to be just a bit deeper. This is often the case with sock yarns, in my experience. My skein of Adorn looks quite complex with pale, medium and deep seafoam, light blue, light and deep teal, and medium and deep marine blue. Quite beautiful!

To the right in the photo is the most elegant Wexford Merino Silk (silk 60% and merino 40%). This yarn is similar in hand to the new Manos Silk & Wool. It's very soft to the touch - definitely an 'against the skin' yarn - and in a single ply. This yarn took the dye in a more subtle way, with very pale and medium seafoam colours and very pale teals and blues. I can't wait to use this yarn. I got two skeins of 240 yards each - it should be enough for a summer bolero or shrug.

The Cormac skein is Galenas Merino - 100% merino wool in single ply and 220 yards. It is very very light greens and very very light blues. Galenas Merino is soft the way cotton is soft - almost fluffy. It has a lightness, and in the single ply will blend beautifully. I'm not sure what I'll make with this yardage. I had originally thought I'd use this for a small Bainbridge Scarf, and maybe I'll still do that, even though it's not winter weather any more. In the Northeast, winter is never very far away, even in the midst of Spring!

You can tell I think, that I love my oceany yarns from the Three Irish Girls so much. Their customer service was excellent, even after I complained that I didn't like my first choice of bright chartreuse colours and returned them. Sharon contacted me and offered to dye a colourway that was to my specifications and you see what a precise, artistic and inspired job she did.

It is my dream to go to Ireland someday. When I'm knitting with these, I will be an armchair traveler in earnest, dreaming of the Irish Sea...

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4 comments:

Teresa said...

You've certainly chosen some beautiful yarns! Thanks for the reviews, and the tip. I have to check out these yarnmakers. I'm drooling here. Drooling!
I can't wait to see what you make with these. I can see a very pretty vintage-inspired shoulder wrap with the sock-weight. Gorgeous :)

Briley said...

The yarns are wonderful! I'm so impressed that they did so much to make you happy when you didn't like the first batch.

Karla said...

What fun, yummy, yarns. Can't wait to see what you make with them.

Nad said...

I love this colour! It is so you!!!! :)