Nuts for Noro

I don't know how I have gone these many years without using Noro yarns.  I would see them in knit shops and think "how gaudy", or "too much color for me".   What was I thinking?  Colorwork always seemed so mysterious to me, I have knit one intarsia piece, and thank goodness it was felted because it was one hole after another.  I've done stripes.  But nothing so vibrant as the mosaic knit dress (see my earlier post on swatching for the Noro dress), or as completely engaging as the cropped jacket that I am knitting right now.  I find myself thinking "one more row, I just want to see how the color changes...  just one more row".


Below to the left the fronts are seamed at the shoulders and neck, and a small detail of the wonderful way two Noro colorways change.  I'm smitten!  This is Silk Garden in #252 and #272.

This is the back.  What fun.  Its just stunning.  And so much fun to put together as well.

In other news I have studio envy.  My office is in the attic of our house, the ceilings are at a pretty sharp pitch.  If I am working at my desk I am fine, but if I move too much one way or the other and stand up suddenly its headache city!  My dear friend JoAnn Stevens-Flores over at Doodle Paint Draw built her studio in a little shed in their backyard.  I should clarify, her terrific husband built her the shed, and finished it beautifully.  That got me to thinking, I have a garden shed with a potting bench...  I have been dabbling in watercolors and encaustic painting (which really needs to be done in a ventilated place), I need room where I can be messy and not get paint and goo all over my knitting or my camera equipment...  Welcome to my summer studio!

And finally, this is what knitters do at Thirty Seconds to Mars concerts.  We knit.