Date: Thu, 11 May 1995 09:41:35 -0500 From: Amy E Tyler PhD To: Multiple recipients of list Subject: knit: alpaca SUMMARY VERY LONG 11 May 95, approx 10:30am edt Hello Interknitters! Isn't this list GREAT!? I recently posted a request for advice on an alpaca vest that I've been *trying* to make for some time (knit: knit-tink-knit-tink). I received several responses, all insightful, all giving me design ideas that I simply would not have dreamt of on my own. I responded to many of you personally, but I thought for the sake of the whole list group that I'd post a summary of responses. There are so many good ideas among us! Before I enumerate those ideas, however, I must tell you that I made my original post on May 5. Then the list was down for several days (: 0). Because I can be rather impatient to get going on a knitting project, I ended up resolving the problem on my own. And, I must say, that so far the vest seems to be working. I settled on using only 3 of the 4 colors (heather grey, charcoal, cream). Short, boxy vest cardigan (can a vest be a cardigan?) with moss stitch bands (hem, neck, front bands, armhole bands). A 3 in southwestern-looking panel just above the hem. Most of the rest of the body in a widely dispersed "seed": row 1: p1,k5; rep row 2: purl row 3: k3, *p1,k5, rep from * row 4: purl (This pattern produced an unexpected effect in the alpaca. You can't see the "dots", but they do provide a nice textural, 3-dimentional fabric.) I interrupted this stitch pattern every 3 inches or so with a 3-row fair-isle pattern of triangles. First "interruption" in grey/cream, second in grey/charcoal, third in grey/cream, etc. I knitted the bottom of the vest as one piece (knitted back-and forth, not circular), working left front/right front/back in single pieces (understood?) from arm opening up. I've got the right front done (the panel with the button holes), and I plan to finish the back tonight. AND...I found some just-right buttons (*always* important!). I plan to make a gift of this sweater to my post-doc mentor. (She has admired my sweaters over the past 2 years, and I'm hoping she'll appreciate this effort.) On to the summary! Clover Gowing responded: Last year I found some gorgeous alpaca on sale, enough for a long vest, but not enough for sleeves. I had two shades, a deep dusty rose (MC) and compatible deep purple (CC). I designed a long (over the fanny) vest with just the kind of fair isle you describe: about 5" total, with two small bands, one above, one below a multiple pattern of "four-leaf clovers" - from Starmore's charted patterns. It has a deep V neck, with double I-cord button bands, and the drop shoulders end in a 2x2 rib in the CC. I love it, especially for its soft drape and warmth. Michelle Garner responded: Amy, I have a possible suggstion to your alpaca vest problem. Last year my mother knitted a gorgeous alpaca vest for my father, but we all wear it. She used a simple intarsia pattern of triangles in rows. Every other triangle is inverted so that they fit together like puzzle pieces. The bands of triangles are separated by two rows of fair isle. The fair isle pattern is of alternating dark and light stitches. Kate Armfield responded: I'm in a similar position - I have a nice little collection of alpaca enough to make a vest ..... Have you thought of cables in different colours on a background of the colour you have most of? - see design by Zoe Hunt in Family Album (Kaffe Fassett book). She actually has two colours in each individual cable which may be a bit OTT. Marla Dowell responded: I was fooling around with swatches myself last night trying to decide what to do with some left-over yarn. There's not quite enough for a solid color sweater. Sound familiar? I didn't want to do stripes and most of my recent efforts have been fair isle. I was looking for something new. I've decided to do a fun k2p2 rib at the bottom; one with the braided effect that is shown in _Folks Socks_. then the rest of the sweater is an all-over herringbone pattern from _Vogue Knitting_. This pattern can be worked in one color, but I'm going to work it in vertical stripes (it's a 7 st/ 4 row repeat pattern). The 4 stitch stripe will be the same color throughout. The other 3 st vertical stripe will be a fairisle effect of 3 lighter tones, e.g. 4 rows pale gold, 4 rows medium gold, 4 rows darker gold, 4 rows medium gold, 4 rows pale gold. The herringbone pattern is fairly subtle in a single color, but when worked in vertical stripes it really stands out. _Vogue Knitting_ and any of Barbara Walker's books will have lots of good stitch pattern suggestions. Good luck. Julie Martin responded: My two successes with alpaca have been with fingering weight, but if it's any help, both involved small cables in simple, repetitive patterns, one with mock cables on a garter stitch background and one with regular 4-stitch cables separated by narrow panels of faggoting. The mock cables were with an alpaca that seemed significantly less hairy than what I've worked with since. I think the key to designing texture for alpaca is to let the repetition carry the pattern--keep small and simple--and don't rely on knit-purl contrast. But southwestern designs--no. Southwestern designs depend on hard edges, and you can't get them with a soft yarn. Diana Foss responded: Your yarn sounds really nice. I don't know how bold you want your patterns to be, but I was really struck by the multi-color slipped stitch patterns in Barbara Walker's books. In fact, third in line after the slubvest, my husband's sweater and my lace project :-) is a black sweater with a plain stocking stitch body and a deep, square neckline in a Greek fretwork pattern in blue and fawn, from book 1 or 2, I forget which. I don't like the idea of intarsia, even though I've never done it. All those ends give me the willies. But these patterns switch colors only at the ends of rows. There are some nice plaids, if you want an overall pattern, but the various fretwork patterns would be nice combined in a kind of faux Fairisle. And it would keep the "ethinic" feel you were orginally going for, albeit of a different ethnicity :-) Tim in Midland responded: Amy Tyler - It sounds to me like your alpaca would make a beautiful argyle pattern which is always a good vest. Alice Hickcox responded: Amy, Lee Anderson came to the Atlanta knitters guild last month, and she had with her a sweater that was made of squares. the sweater was in shades of white, and I can't remember if the sleeves and back were also squares or not. The effect was very striking. There was not a lot of variation in texture or pattern, so the design was subtle. Your description of your yarn made me think of that sweater for some reason. Some or perhaps many of the yarns in the sweater were quite luxurious. The overall impression was not a sampler sweater, but something even more unified than that, probably because of the limited color range. The squares were all the same size, about 2 inches. The sweater shape was quite simple and traditional. Your design problem sounds like just the thing she works with. "Set some rules, and then break them." So you have a front of squares, and triangles on the sleeves. Or the front is alpaca, and all the rest is one color of another yarn. What about argyle?.... Robert responded: Amy Tyler, having no luck with her alpaca, wants help. Since the fair-isle patterns you've tried don't suit and you really wish you had all one colour, you might want to try a multi-colour slip-stitch pattern; there are a number of them in the first two Barbara Walker books. They will blend your four colours into something tweedy and pleasant to look at, much more uniform and "overall" than a fair-isle pattern would be. Alpaca's so wonderful, so soft and warm, that it would be a shame not to use it. Grace (KnitCat) responded: Amy, I've saved answering your post till last, trying to think of what your alpaca wants to be (and I _love_ your "knit - tink" line!!). It does want to be a vest, I can tell that from what you've written... maybe a Scandinavian color pattern, with striped ribbing, color-pattern Vs around the bottom, snowflakes (not elaborate patterns, just single-stitches in the other colors on a base of the background - like this:: V V V V V V and so on) and then a more elaborate color pattern around the yoke? and then you finish the bands and armholes in the same stripes as the bottom ribbing? Kathy responded: i have a shawl pattern which you could do in stripes. it is a "V" sort of shaped shawl. it has the southwest patterning in it. it is done in a solid color. but with a bit of changing the pattern and doing it on larger needles..... i think it will be great for alpaca. or get a bit more alpaca in a complimentary color and then you will definatly have enough for a big shawl. A *very* big thanks to all. Amy E. Tyler amyet@ginger.kines.umich.edu "I want from dance what I want from life. Show me a miracle." Walter Sorrell