It’s here!

The kit I ordered from Hand Painted Knitting Yarns (HPKY) a couple weeks ago came in this week. I promptly unpacked it and oohed and ahhed over the pretty yarns. The color is the rich version of Idemeneo, a combination of orange, purple, and the pink/red that transitions between the two. I’ve since wound it all up into useful yarn cakes and (gasp) swatched. Twice, even! While the Fringed Vest is not terribly fitted, it would still be nice to approximate gauge. Looks like I will be using a US9 – and I need to acquire a longer circ since this is knitted the long way. Cast on 250-300 stitches! Do not think my little 16″ circ will do that job very well.

One thing this yarn really drives home is how differently various fibers take up dye. All five fibers pictured are dyed in the same colorway – the color variations are from their fiber content. From left to right they are:

HPKY Pisa – 36% Baby Alpaca, 61% Merino wool, 3% Nylon

HPKY Parma – 80% Wool, 20% Silk

HPKY Pisa Glitter – 38% Baby Alpaca, 60% Merino Wool, 2% Lurex (that’s the sparkly stuff), 3% Nylon

HPKY Biella – 60% Nylon, 40% Kid Mohair

HPKY Fantasia – 60% Nylon, 40% Columbian wool

Another photo from a different camera and before it was wound:

This photo is the same yarns in the same order, except it includes the one skein of solid black, which is HPKY Milan (70% Baby Alpaca, 12% Merino, 18% Nylon). When I was knitting up my swatches, I was giving serious consideration for swapping out the black for some shade of purple. I just thought it looked too harsh with the other colors. We’ll see.