Sweet Treats

My Nutiden arrived earlier this week, and I’ve been having a lot of fun getting to know it.

The colors do vary a just a bit in texture and weight, but they are all beautifully soft and lofty.

Here are some more photos to give you a closer look

The individual fibers are fairly short staple for the most part (2″ or less) and it gets a lovely heathery look from a blend of colors, including darker fibers which I think are natural colored.

Here is a swatch that I knit out of that same color. The top bit is a single strand, and the bottom half is two strands.

The gauge between the two is not too different, but the single strand is much more open and fragile feeling. You can get a better sense of the difference by seeing the swatch held up to a light.

Doubled, the yarn handles much more easily and knits up into a really light and lofty fabric (4 stitches/in) that feels quite stable and substantial.

I’ve decided to use the Nutiden varieties to begin a top down raglan sweater- starting with the blue. Its a little tricky to cast on with the unspun alone, and since the neckline is something that will take a bit of wear and tear, I’ve decided to use one strand of the Nutiden and a handspun single of indigo dyed homegrown wool (can’t remember exactly who it came from)

I think that once I get through the blue, I might start working in a double strand of Nutiden and see how far that gets me. Once I run out of Nutiden, I’m going to carry on with wool from the stash, carded and dizzed (is that a word?) down to a comparable weight to the doubled up Nutiden.

The unspun Daphne sample I worked up a couple weeks ago is a little heavier than the doubled Nutiden, so I’ll have to reduce it a bit yet, but I think I can get there-

I think that a plain vanilla top down raglan will be a fun canvas for playing with the colors and textures- and it’s nice to have something substantial on the needles again!

My other sweet treat this week is quince! (acquired from Schoonover Farm, since out tree once again did not produce any fruits )

Made a batch of Membrillo (quince paste) yesterday- and really excited about how it turned out. The color is just gorgeous. (and the recipe linked above is really easy)

Since I had enough quince to make a batch and a half or so, I decided to take the extra half and dehydrate it some to make it into quince candy.

So looking forward to trying it. I do love fruity sweets.

Have a great week everyone- and a happy Thanksgiving!