| Kollage Abstractions |
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| Written by Barbara Rottman | |||
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The Look
The Feel The frothy mohair and smooth ribbon feel like a whipped mousse; lightweight and soft. You will want to crawl into a shawl or smoke ring knit of this silky soft yarn. It rates an 8 on the softness scale.
The Patterns Yarnmarket offers the “Abstractions Cotton Candy Scarf,” an elegant openwork pattern, free with the purchase of yarn. I knit a möbius ring in “Joy” using a reversible lace pattern.
Color Range Imagine an inspirational water color painting interpreted in yarn, and you will find “Joy,” from Abstractions Collection. The mohair and ribbon combine into an illusion of light, shadow and color. The softly dyed mohair is matched with space dyed ribbon that adds shimmer to this pleasing palette. This Yarnmarket-exclusive collection of colorful yarns by Kollage is a clever interpretation of abstract water paintings by American artists Sharon Will and Sandra Packer. Each color is based on an individual painting reflecting emotion or intellect: Impulse, Contemplation, Discovery, Excitement, Happiness, and Determination. You will find a color to literally suit your every mood.
Determination Painting by Sandra Packer. Determination yarn by Kollage.
Working It
What I’d Like to Make with It This lofty yarn is ideal for a scarf, smoke ring, möbius, or shawl. Drawn by the cozy softness of Abstractions, I chose to knit a “smoke ring.” I knit a strip about 10 inches wide by 36 inches long, gave it a half twist and grafted the last row to the invisibly cast on edge. Although not a true möbius, the ring encircles my neck with a graceful curve, with no need to tie or tuck in ends. It can be flattened into a subdued scoop neckline to fit inside a coat or jacket.Knitting Outside the Box Consider a frothy pillow for your bed, a flowing tunic or loose sweater. Whatever you knit, use a loose gauge to get the maximum effect of this lofty yarn.
Blocking It Do not use heat to block; the ribbon yarn is synthetic and can be damaged by high heat.
Washing It This yarn should be gently hand washed in cool water. To avoid matting the mohair, be careful not to wring or twist the wet knitting.
Wearability This yarn will most likely be knit into delicate accessories such as scarves, wraps or shawls. It will not be required to withstand rugged wear. The wearability test will be in how well Abstractions maintains its beautiful sheen, loft and fluffiness. In this test, Abstractions bounced back after the normal crushing, stretching and tugging involved in donning and wearing a garment.
Overall Recommendation The color, luxury feel and high quality of this yarn make it an alluring and desirable yarn; I highly recommend Abstractions and rate it #8.
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You’ll gain near instant gratification as you knit with this yarn that is so well suited for lacy openwork. “Joy” knits up quickly at a bulky gauge, but in lace the gauge is even looser -- about 2 stitches per inch. It is so easy that you can try designing a project yourself. I did notice a tendency for the mohair to work its way out of the skein a little faster than the ribbon, and that may require unwinding longer lengths of yarn to keep the tension even. The strands are not plied, and I had to pay some attention to avoid dropping the ribbon strand, which sometimes got lost in the high loft of the mohair. This could be a distraction for a less experienced knitter. The soft, lightweight yarn knits up so quickly that you project is finished almost before you can blink.
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