Catkin

I finally bit the bullet and purchased yarn to make the Catkin capelet. I knew I wanted to use madelinetosh Tosh merino light, but I had a lot of trouble deciding on the color combo. I hate ordering yarn online but my "local" yarn shop isn't all that local, so I end up buying a lot of yarn without seeing it in person. For someone like me, this is a recipe for insanity. I spent countless hours looking at every colorway, trying to imagine which would make the perfect combination, which would look best on me, which I would wear most often... I'm a little obsessive about the color thing. Eventually I would get so overwhelmed I wouldn't order anything. And so the months passed...

Then last week I realized that my vacation is coming up and I had no vacation knitting planned. Squeak! Yes, the project (and yarn) I will pack for a trip takes precedence over all those other silly things. Like clothing. A four hour flight each way calls for some serious knitting; Catkin's time had come.

So, I kicked myself in the butt and told myself to order the dang yarn already. I ended up with Earl Gray and Violin. While I thought they would go well together, I was a bit worried that violin might be too orange for me, but I was somewhat boxed in by what I was (and wasn't) able to find in stock.

As with all madelinetosh, both colorways were beautiful; I knitted up a Catkin swatch, and they looked wonderful together...and horrid on me. As I feared, Violin leans distinctly towards rust. While it's a gorgeous color, it really doesn't flatter my complexion's pink-like-a-pig undertones.

I had also ordered a onesie of Terrarium. I love onesies; they have a Forrest Gump quality of surprise, because you truly never know what you're going to get. In the case of Terrarium, it in no way resembled the "standard" Terrarium colorway, which is a swampy mix of greens and browns. What I got was black shot through with glints of brighter green. When I swatched it I could see that it was actually an incredibly dark, nearly-black green. Pretty cool. Unfortunately, it wasn't a great fit with Earl Gray.

Terrarium onesie

What's a knitter to do? Why, order more yarn, of course! Budget, schmudget. Money is no object when you're fulfilling an artistic vision.

I wanted something with a cool base to pull out the cool, blue gray tones in Earl Gray. After more hemming and hawing (and much counsel from the husbeast) I finally settled on Composition Book Gray. I must confess, I have my doubts. I'm afraid it will be too dark or not have quite the right cast to fit my vision. I also ordered a hank of Tarte; if the Earl/Comp Book Grays don't work out, I thought I might pair it up with my Terrarium onesie. As a Plan B, you know. All right, I admit it - I ordered it just because it's so pretty and it's always out of stock and I can never have enough madelinetosh. Don't judge me!