Start your engines...

OK, maybe it's not time to start them just yet, but at least make sure you've got a full tank of gas and feed the pit crew. I'm ready to start designing a new wrap pattern and this is the yarn I'm going to use. This is Fleece Artist Suri Blue in Wine.* Suri Blue is 50/50 Suri Alpaca and Blue Faced Leicester and it's almost between a laceweight and fingering weight yarn. I have two hanks of 600 meters each, but I'm 99% sure I'll use more than one hank for the wrap, despite the slightly heavier weight yarn. There are size 6 seed beads on their way to me and I'll show those when they get here.

So, what can I tell you about this new design? It's not going to be a rectangular stole shape, but it will be a tweak of that shape (more of a tweak than Swan Lake, or maybe just as much of a tweak but in a different direction - still with me?) I'm not ready to reveal the main theme just yet (and it doesn't have a name right now), but I can tell you that I want to play with a ruffle again. I liked the ruffle ending on Hanami and I want to have a wrap with a more prominent ruffle. Something with a Spanish feel (and the sangria colored yarn works with that too). I have been trying to figure out how to shape the stole and, like most things in knitting, there are several ways do that - I'm just trying to pick the best one for this situation. I'll only show this design when I have something to really show, so it might be a couple of weeks before I blog about it again since at the moment, all I have is the yarn. Nothing's charted, nothing's finalized in terms of how I'm going to shape it, and I don't have any beads yet to start the knitting if I did have the rest of it nailed down. Hang in there with me and I'll reveal more soon.

*When I blogged the designing and test knitting for Hanami, several people went ahead and bought yarn for it before the pattern was even written and released. Just in case this happens again, I'd recommend a light fingering weight yarn such as Suri Blue because I'm not sure this design will be adjustable in length and width** (since I don't know for sure how I'll shape it). I'd also recommend a solid, or handdyed solid yarn. I don't know how many beads the design will have when it's all charted and finished, but I picked up two containers of beads from the Bead Wrangler (link above) and each container of size 6 seed beads has about 480 beads in it. This gives me plenty of wiggle room design wise. I'll give final numbers when I have them, but here are basics for anyone who wants to plan ahead.

**I am shooting for a length of 72-80 inches and a width of 18-24 inches for this wrap. If you will need these sizes larger or smaller, I'd recommend waiting to purchase your supplies. If I can figure out how to make the wrap adjustable, I will. Otherwise, the only adjustments will be through yarn and needle size. I'll explain more of this later if it becomes an issue.