simply swatching

Roxanne sent me a few more ZYG yarns to swatch in more new colors -- Glitter Sock (a new base for the company) in colorway Teak, and Serenity DK in colorway Cocoa.

I have to say that out of all the bases I have tried from Zen Yarn Garden thus far, my absolute favorite is the Serenity DK. I have never felt a yarn as luxuriously soft and squishy! I might have to treat myself to a sweater lot! I immediately cast on:

For the Cocoa swatch I wanted to do a stitch pattern that would really show off the great stitch definition of this yarn. I chose a stitch from my 1963 Stitch Dictionary, 900 Knitting Stitches, called "Diagonal Crossed Stitch."

Diagonal Crossed Stitch

CO a multiple of 2. 

Row 1: *Slip 1 purlwise, k1, yo, pass slipped stitch over the k1 & yo*

Row 2 and all alternate rows: purl

Row 3: k1 *slip 1 purlwise, k1, yo, pass slipped stitch over the k1 & yo*

For the Glitter Sock, I decided to use Rambler Stitch, which has become a recent favorite due to the massive amount of it in the Stitch Block Cowl I'm knitting. It came out quite squishy, even on US 2 needles. One thing I really like about Glitter Sock is the amount of Stellina (sparkle) it has in it -- the sparkles are really long and not just specks. Not that there's anything wrong with specks, it's just a different kind of sparkle than I usually see. 

Rambler Stitch

This is probably easiest if you just read this.

I'm getting ready this week to go to TNNA but when I get back I hope to have lots to show you! I'll be taking the camera and hopefully making a Yarnbox video while I'm away.