Friday, March 23, 2007

Manos vs. Malabrigo

Brucie,

As you can see, I finally re-knit "big lefty" into a much smaller lefty. I think I was concentrating so hard on knitting a tighter gauge that I actually made him a bit smaller than the right hand glove. Oh, well. It's not as noticable as before, and I can totally fix it by blocking. If I decide to actually block something for once.


I decided that for Mother's Day, I'm going to knit my mom the Argosy Wrap, which is based off of the Argosy Scarf of Winter Knitty fame. There's just something about that Argosy pattern. It touches people, in a way they haven't been touched since the almighty Clapotis. Instead of using Noro, I decided to use Malabrigo. I've only knitted with it once in my whole life, but it's a totally unforgettable yarn. People compare it to Manos de Uruguay because of the color variegation, but I think it's an unfair comparison.
As you know, I personally am anti-Manos. I have knitted several items with Manos de Uruguay, and they have all gotten pilly and/or fallen apart in the last year. Also, Malabrigo is much softer, and spun really well, and holds up. Manos is more scratchy, and the yarn goes from bulky in some spots to thin-as-thread in other spots. It feels to me like it's held together with spit in some places. And while I'm okay with it if I have to do it during a project, I'm not okay with paying someone else to do it.
So anyways, I had to order the Malabrigo from the internet, and I actually ended up ordering from Lambikins in Hamilton! Ohio. Small world. I picked a color which looked sort of blue-green on the internet, but I figured it would turn out a little greener in person (because "verdes" is in the name). Boy did it ever! I had trouble capturing the greeniness on camera, but here's the closest I came:



So greeeeen! I think she'll like it.

See you tomorrow!

-Brax

2 comments:

Libby said...

It's lovely! I love lambikins. Hamilton! Ohio.

Karida said...

i love malabrigo too! but i'm not strictly anti-manos. malabrigo is just so much softer.