At the TNNA Show last June, Kreinik’s Creative Director Dena Lenham introduced me to their new Metallic Fashion Twist Thread. It’s a strong thread that is primarily intended for use in embroidery sewing machines. This unique thread is made of 100% polyester with a liminate of silver. The softness of the thread (so many metallics can be slightly scratchy), the great sparkle, plus anti-mocrobial properties (thereby resistant to fungus) immediately caught my interest. I told Dena, that yes, I thought I could definitely do something with this in the knitting realm.

The colors shown here are Camel (left) and Fuchsia (right) – there are a range of 10 other nice colors offered as well. The thread comes with a handy mesh ‘tamer’ to keep the thread from unwinding by itself when not in use. These aare the 1000 meter cones, and they also have larger 300 meter cones available. With such great yardage, most knitting projects using this thread as a carry-along will likely need only a single smaller cone.

Fast forward to today when I tried my new Flip digital camcorder for the first time. I picked up the Glitz and Beads sock that I am working on using some Kreinik Metaillic fashion twist thread and just dove into showing and talking about it.

This video was entirely off the cuff (sock that is, lol) and I definitely need to work on better focus. I was trying to do this all by myself, so wrapping my arms around the camera at the same time as seeing what I was shooting, plus trying to talk, was maybe too involved for a first try, lol. I think it turned out pretty well for a first try, though. Being entirely un-rehearsed, I hadn’t even really thought of what I was going to say. I just started into it, and things went from there. I bet that’s apparent from how many times you’ll hear me say ‘nice’ in this video. Did you count them?

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My new patterns showcasing Symphony Kid Lace with Beads & Glitter will be arriving in stores this week! This has been a very satisfying set of projects to design with this lovely yarn, and Tracy at Tilli Tomas is such a delight to work with.

Lace and Cables Scarf (left) uses just one skein. This is a nicely reversible scarf in a beautiful organically flowing design. An easy trellis lace stitch combines with interwoven lattice of textured knit-purl spot cables that appear to be floating. Of course, if you want to plurge on more yarn, you can easily upsize to a stole.

Lace Starlight Stole uses just 2 skeins. It is knitted in an interesting and lovely dropped stitch lace pattern. The radiating strands of yarn remind us of rays of starlight. If you are familiar with hairpin lace, you might have thought this stole was crocheted. But actually it is knitted!

Put on the Glitz Shrug is the 3-skein project (right). This lusciously flowing shrug in delicate cabled lace speaks for itself. It is knitted cuff to cuff with no seams to sew.

So what is your favorite?

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This project was more than 12 years in the making! It actually began around 1996 as the prototype using some of my own handspun yarn of the Sweet Melody Vest design that I just recently officially published. I was off to a great start in 1996 with my idea for the vest. Then when most of the way through the lower body, I got stalled over the fear of not having enough yarn to complete the vest in my size.

There was no more fiber to be had of the same kind, and it wasn’t like I could just go down to the store and get more yarn.

You wouldn’t believe how many times I picked up and put down this project. I really loved the yarn, loved the color, and loved the way the vest was coming out. But I kept trying to figure out a fall-back plan if I did not have enough yarn.

I did proceed on the project design for publication using the commercially available Lorna’s Laces Green Line DK. So now having proved the design and gotten final yardages, I felt I would at least be comfortable in finishing the handspun version for me(!) with the fall-back (literally) plan of using a similar color wool yarn I had hand-dyed on the back of the vest where it might not be as noticeable (at least to me when wearing, lol).

As always when I am concerned about running out of yarn, I just knit faster. So actually, when I got re-started on this ufo, it hardly took me any time to finish. I completed the remainder of the lower body, both upper fronts and upper back in just 2 days!

I did run out of yarn, but not until I was part way through joining the shoulders to the back. There’s a bit of difference that can be seen upon close inspection, but nothing that will bother me now in the least. Yay!

I think I am going to have fun wearing this vest a lot as it is going to be perfect to go with blue jeans that I usually wear these days of ‘retirement’. The yarn is so soft and feels good. I always loved that yarn I had spun and now am so glad I finally was able to complete what I envisioned — even if it took me over a decade, lol.

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