close knit: the neighborhood yarn shop


Saturday, January 4, 2014

Marled

Have you all noticed the marled trend out in the knitwear world?  You probably have...I am never on the cutting edge.  But we can talk about it anyway.  I like the fact that it's a little bit lumberjack, a little bit sock monkey.  Unless you do it like Shibui, and then it's just pure sophistocation.
Photo borrowed from Shibui Knits
Marled yarn (or fabric) involves different colors held together during the spinning of the yarn or the knitting of the fabric.  We have quite a few nice marled yarns at the shop these days.  Sally used the marled Cascade Lana Grande to make this awesome Hat-Shaped Hat.  It makes me think sock monkey, for sure.
Nancy also used it in her Charly Infinity Scarf.

Classic Elite released Crestone this fall.  I like the all of the colorways, from the subtle to the high contrast.  It's a worsted weight, so it pairs nicely with Vista, its solid cousin, or any of the worsteds we have at the shop.
We have the hard-to-say-but-lovely-to-knit Panguipulli from Araucania, if you like a little more color in your marl.  Here it is knit up as a little ribbed beanie.
Cascade Eco Duo has also been a very popular choice at the shop.  The black and white one is my favorite, but they are all really pretty.  And silky soft.  We also have several marled colorways of the Cascade Eco Alpaca, shown below.
Another way to achieve a marled look is to knit with different colors held together, just like the gorgeous Shibui Mix. No. 8 at the top of the post.
Photo borrowed from Savory Knitting
I am very excited about the awesome Moxie from Savory Knitting.  In fact, it is next on my list of things to knit.  Swatching has begun.  Sock yarn held doubled on a US6 is squishy and soft, like a favorite sweatshirt.
I considered several color combinations but settled on a nice burnt orange Cascade Heritage Sock and some chocolatey brown sock yarn to create my own sock monkey sweater, very similar to the original.
Photo borrowed from Knittimo's Ravelry page.
I have also been dreaming about the Spring Kerchief from Portland Designer Sachiko Uemura.  She used two skeins of lace weight to create her colorblocked, marled shawl.  I would love to have one in red and white, or maybe blue and grey.  I love the light, airy feel of this piece.

Any of you inspired by the marled look?  Anything similar on your list?

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