Hello

Hi everyone, glad to meet you. My yarn arrived this morning whoooo! I have chosen the Rowan Kidsilk Haze in Trance http://www.knitrowan.com/html/yarn_results_detail.asp?productcode=12582&groupno=12basically because there arent any decent wool shops near me and also we dont get the choice I think that you get in Canada. I did get it cheaper though and I have justified it as a birthday present to myself. I cant wait to start though, I am gonna be good and wait till the 1st .
Arianwen

Another possible yarn sub

I just thought I'd mention the yarn I've finally decided on. I love browsing the Artfibers website, and I noticed Tsuki. I emailed them about the yarn, and was told that several of their customers have used it as a sub for KSH, and that it produced very good results. So, I ordered two skeins of it today. It is 60% mohair and 40% silk. I know it won't be quite as fuzzy, but I am hoping it will still work well! The price isn't bad, either... $16/515 yd skein.

Flickr Group

There is now a Flickr Group to pool together all images Butterfly related. It's in its infancy (it was just born 5 seconds ago) but I think it has potential to grow. I think there will be many pictures of this beautiful garment listed for us to admire soon enough.

I also wanted to mention that I am not using Rowan's Kid Silk Haze to make my butterfly. I have a yarn that (apparently) will work as a substitution. At my yarn store it was half the price of Rowan's KSH. It is called The SRK Collection, Ovation. It is still kid mohair and silk, just without the brand name of Rowan attached.

More about Substitutions

Any laceweight yarn will work. As long as you know that a 100% merino, alpaca or silk will give a less ethereal look and won't be disappointed by this you can try the following, as suggested by Crystal & Stuntmother.
KnitPicks Shadow, Gossamer, Alpaca Cloud or Shimmer
Schaefer Yarns Andrea
Crystal Palace Yarns Kid Merino

These yarns have some fantastic colours!!! If the 1st Butterfly knits up great good not horrible, I'll have to seriously consider doing it again. mmmmm - silk!!

Not having worked with the Kid Merino, I can't speak to it's blockability, Crystal, but it falls into the appropriate weight category. The only way to really know how the yarn will behave - yeah, you know what I'm gonna say - is to swatch it. Even acrylic can be wet blocked. I wouldn't steam it unless you've tried it on a swatch and know what's going to happen.

Button

Thanks Krista - I really love it!!

Ann Marie

Installing Haloscan seems to have erased the previous comments. Email me : kwp@sympatico.ca with your email address so that I can send you an invitation to join the blog.

Thanks!

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

Alpaca Cloud

KnitPicks Alpaca Cloud falls into the appropriate weight class so you can certainly use it. The knitted fabric will have a different appearance though. It will not have the ethereal look that the mohair gives KSH. The price is right though, so as long as you know that the look will be a bit different, go for it!

THe 34" dress takes 3 + 1 balls of KSH. The 1 ball is for the inner hem frill which is knit in a different colour. The shorter version doesn't have this, so you can leave it out or knit it in the same colour - Knitters Choice.

Swatch & Substitutions

I appreciate your blind devotion Krista. Bwa ha ha - I have them in my thrall now!!
The Swatch is measured over the body pattern stitch which is graphed out. I would/will cast on at least 30 sts, doing 3 sts on each end in garter st. You will just have to pay attention on the rows that have "yo, dec2, yo", working just a single dec at the ends to keep your stitch count constant. After working at least 4" in length, cast off very loosely and block. Wet it up, give it a squeeze and pin it. (and teenagers think they've got the market cornered on double-entendres) With a gauge of 17 sts'4" the 24 sts of pattern should measure 5.6". After it's dry unpin it, give it a wee shake and let it rest a bit. Now - do you like it? Measure it. Is it to gauge? If you like it and it is to gauge (or not far off) then you're golden!! Otherwise you may want to adjust your needle size and do another swatch. I know, but this is not going to be one of those weekend projects and you really want to like it & have it fit (presumable you) when it's done.

The Substitution Suggestions

K1C2 Douceur et Soie
Madil Kid Seta

These next 3 are a little lighter, but I'm sure (especially since I'm using one of them) that they will be just fine.
Alchemy Yarns Haiku
Jaggerspun Zephyr
Karabella Lace Mohair

Let us know if you have another suggestion!

Swatching

I would like to encourage everyone to do a swatch
Lace is a very malleable thing, capable of becoming more than you could imagine possible from a singy lump, but we don't want to be too far off of the Rowan mark. I do believe that there is such thing as "too lacy". Swatching can begin now if you have time (and when I say 'time' I mean an hour of two or sleep that you didn't really need anyway) or you can wait for August 1st.

Krista had mentioned to me that as I am blog button challenged (I don't have a freakin' clue!) that she would make us a button! No rush Krista, just building some excitement here.

Talk to you soon!

Welcome

On August 1st we will be starting Butterfly from Rowan #37. It calls for 2-4 balls of Kidsilk Haze depending on the size and whether you choose to do the short or longer version. We are in this for the long haul and while we will celebrate with each other as we finish it is by no means going to be any kind of speed thang. Honest, I've got a lot of "work" knitting to do.
Krista was really the inspiration for this. She was going to do Butterfly as her Olympic event, but had serious second thoughts and said that she would need someone to talk her through it. I have always loved this design so I offered. One thing led to another and now we have an -along & a blog. I know that Krista has more going on than she thinks and will probably have more answers than questions.

I am going to use Haiku from Alchemy Yarns. With Krista's help I chose the Foxglove colour. Mine is darker & richer than the colours shown on the Alchemy site (at least on my monitor).

Please leave your name in a comment if you would like to Come, Butterfly Along with Me and I will add you as a member. We are all going to help each other in this ... so play nice. Don't make me pull this blog over!!