I’m writing on Day One of the Kansas City Yarn Party. You may know that we were working on a Yarn Crawl for this same time frame, but COVID-19 interrupted our plans. So, we decided to try a party that would allow each store to do its own thing – in whatever state of “Open for Business” it happened to be. Florilegium is the only store that is not physically open, but we still have been working hard to bring you some special new things! (And, we’re open everyday online and by phone!)
We have a beautiful new line of DK-weight Corriedale that I am so in love with I wanted to feature it for the “Party”. It’s called Odyssey, and it’s made in Iowa. I’ve tried just about every kind of pattern and colorwork that I could think of and found this yarn to excel at every one.
I love the smooth transitions between colors and the range of colors (which we are still expanding!) All the colors have the same timbre and work so well with each other. It is also possible for you to choose your own colors, and we will make yarn especially for you!
To me, the weight is perfect for garments, scarves and shawls as well as accessories like pillows and blankets. It’s warm, yet light.
The sweater and cowl, above, are knit in seed stitch holding three strands of Odyssey together. It’s the sweater to grab on nippy fall days when you don’t want to hassle with a coat. It has an interesting hemline and back shaping:
Can you see that inverted “V” that starts just below the collar? I was afraid to do it, when the pattern called for it, for fear it would mess up my seed stitch and make an ugly line. So, I was thrilled when it turned out to be barely noticeable! The little vents in the hemline are a nice touch, too, don’t you think?
This pattern is the “Hirari” which can be found on Ravelry here.
I worked it in seed stitch to show off all the colors I was mixing, but it is lovely in a soft stockinette, also. I changed the neckline so that I could make a removable cowl.
The Brioche scarf, below, is made from a pattern in Nancy Marchant’s book “Knitting Fresh Brioche”. Any of Nancy’s patterns will make a beautiful scarf!! This one took two each of two colors (so four skeins, total).
Here are a couple of Andrea Mowry’s “Shift Cowls” (below):
On the back wall of our mannequin case is a crazy coat I made, in homage to Kaffe Fassett (my hero, blush). See it (sort of) below:
This is a “strip” coat. When I began the first strip, I didn’t know what the finished project would become. As it turned out, it was so much fun that it became a coat. It is made up of four long strips that go from the front hem to the back hem, four shorter strips that form the front and back necklines and two MUCH shorter strips that form the elbow length sleeves. The pattern for the strips is contained in an earlier journal post that you can find here.
So, I hope I’ve given you a good idea of the beauty and versatility of this yarn. We have created a deck of cards which show all of the colors. An actual skein with a stockinette swatch is on the front, and pictures of these samples are on the backs.
For the Yarn Party, we have put together 20 decks of cards, each with two 50-yd balls of Odyssey. These will be given away free on Instagram (“FlorilegiumStudio”) to the first twenty people who comment that they would like one on my Instagram post AND DM me with their address. I hope to see YOU out there!! Thanks for making it all the way to the bottom of this post! Whew!! It was a long one!!
Oh, and of course there is one more thing. If you would like a free set of cards but can’t make it to our Instagram, just click here to download your own from a PDF file Fred has created. A one-time-only code for 20% off your Odyssey purchase is included! All righty then, I think that’s all..? Bye for now.
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