Yarns to Love
Introducing: Love and Happiness in Yarn Form
The minute we saw Love and Happiness, we were goners.
Amy Christoffers‘s lovely cowl pattern has that thing we love: simple cables, great drape, and a juicy depth to it.
X and O, over and over. Hugs and kisses? Of course.
We noticed that Amy’s cowl was made with some kind of great yarn. Not a traditional tightly twisted yarn, but something softer, hazier, prettier. Unexpected.
It’s Lorna’s Laces Haymarket, and we fell for it as fast as we’d fallen for Amy’s cowl.
For months now, we have been at work on a special batch of Haymarket colors that would capture the soft brightness of springtime.
Our creative director Melanie Falick cooked up a palette for this yarn, and Beth Casey did her magic to capture the nuances of the six shades. Now, we share with you the results of their work matching palette to yarn. We happily present six new colors exclusive to MDK, now available in the MDK Shop:
Delight. A buttercup yellow, but not a crazy yellow.
Glee. A deep rose. Not fuschia, not bubblegum.
Elation. A bluegreen, or turquoise, or something in the neighborhood of aqua.
Contentment. A tender gray.
Euphoria. A gentle pink, even gentler than this picture allows.
Bliss. Somewhere between a soft denim, cornflower, or indigo.
With the true glory of spring exploding around us, this is the yarn we’ll knit now on our summer rambles—and when fall finally arrives, we’ll be ready with a souvenir filled with memories of the warm season when we made this.
A Fine Match of Yarn and Pattern
I’m finding Love and Happiness a great pattern to alternate with other knitting—a few cables can be a ton of fun after cranking a long-haul stockinette project. And it passes the all-important portability test. The stitch pattern looks intricate, but it’s easily memorized after a repeat or two. And if you’ve ever wanted to learn to make cables without a cable needle, well, this is your pattern! (A quick how-to video is here.)
Love and Happiness can be made with two or three skeins of Haymarket. I had a hard time picking a color for my Love and Happiness—but I went with Elation because that’s always a great feeling. And a great turquoisey aqua.
Love and Happiness. Made with Elation. Or Glee. Or Contentment. See? This is knitting to lift your spirits, every time you pick up your needles.
Now I have Rev. Al singing in my head. Not a bad way to start the day.
Help please! These colors are too gorgeous. I can’t pick one. Would it be just too weird to use three different colors in sections? I need input from other knitters with better discernment.
I see stripes in someone’s future. Intarsia stripes, in a barely-contrasting color, in maybe a couple of the seed stitch column between the cable columns. And a wee bit of embroidery in the center of the O”s, a French knot, or a small bead. Or a small flower. I am off to find my copy of “Embellished Knits”, Anna Zillborg, here I come!
Please do this! Now that we know how to do intarsia, we should do intarsia every day…
And yes, Anna Zilboorg’s book on embellishment is so inspiring, and unexpected. Love the freedom in what she does.
Oops, correction, title, is “Splendid Apparel”.
I have been considering the same thing! I think it would would–pick the colors you like. Bliss, Contentment, and Elation (gray, blue, aqua) would be beautiful. Or Glee, Euphoria, and Contentment (rose, pink, gray). Or whatever grabs you!
Okay, I have ordered Contentment, Delight and Euphoria. I think I will split the sections of Contentment to fall between the other two colors. thank you (I think) for your siren song. I have been itching for a soft yellow. Soft colors are not usually my palette, but these look luscious.
I can’t wait to see what comes of this! Wonderful!
Pretty!
Hooray! Amy’s such a great designer – thanks for featuring one of her patterns. If you want to take a class with her, she’s also a great instructor and she’ll be teaching a colorwork design class as part of the Fall Fiber Tour in Vermont in September. Details on our website: https://www.vermontcrafttours.com/fiber-tour/
Those colors are all gorgeous – but for me, it’s between Euphoria and Glee….
Elation is the best!!!
I’m getting ready to finish mine; I’m ending with row 16. What pattern row do I use to join the live stitches from the beginning to the row 16 stitches? It says ‘in pattern’ but would that be row 1 or row 2?