Meet the Yarn: Meridian, part 2

Next up in my crochet explorations of Anzula yarns, it's time to turn to a lace-weight, Meridian. This blend of 55% Tencel, 35% Alpaca, and 10% Nylon arrives in skeins of 812 yards per 114 grams. The fiber combination creates a yarn that produces the best qualities of both the tencel (lightweight and slight sheen) and the alpaca (warmth, slight halo).

Meridian swatches

In my experience, Meridian is prone to splitting and somewhat sticky. These are two characteristics to think about when choosing your needle or hook and as you're ripping back to fix a mistake or start over. The hook I chose, wasn't the best choice and the lack of consistency in the blocked swatches proves that. I think a tip that is more pointed would have helped to reduce splitting and even my tension. For these swatches, the result is ok as I'm not stressing about accurate gauge. My goal for this project is to work with the yarn and get to understand it in different situations.
 

As Jill explained in her post, Meridian looks a complete mess before blocking! Be strong and reserve judgment until after the swatches dry, the result will be pretty. Even though my gauge is all over the place, the simplicity of the stitches highlights the characteristics of this blend.

Meridian swatches, knit

Crochet, by both tradition and the nature of how the stitches form, loves a lace weight. While my tension and blocking leaves much to the imagination, the fabric of simple stitches is gorgeous. Process note: this is one of the last swatches for which I did a combination of stitches in one swatch. I've found single stitch swatches work better for these explorations. My photos don't do this yarn or fabric justice. 

Meridian swatch, crochet

Comparing the knit and crochet fabric highlights the delicate beauty this yarn can create. I love the single crochet fabric and hope to explore it at different gauges soon. 

Meridian swatches, knit and crochet

Both the motif and lace stitches create fabric beautiful drape  -- the granny square is incredibly light and the lace fabric wants to drift away! The granny square is small because I stopped after I completed  four rounds, otherwise I may have continued for all 812 yards in my skein!

Meridian swatches, motif and lace

While the stitch definition during the making process leaves much to the imagination, I persevered. It should be no surprise that I am continuing my texture love in this Meridian swatch!

Meridian swatch, texture

Can you substitute Meridian for any lace weight in a crochet pattern? There will be subtle changes to the fabric you create as it will behave differently than a 100% merino or other combination. The alpaca creates warmth with a bit of loft, the tencel is strong yet light. This is why swatching to learn the characteristics of a yarn and blocking is important.

All Meridian swatches are in the Sexy colourway, any perceived differences are due to the photographer.

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Penny Shima Glanz spends her days spinning yarn and code into memorable projects. Small businesses rely on her for smart technology decisions. Designers rely on her to sample, test, and edit their hand-knit and crochet patterns. She loves muddy trail runs, fosters kittens, and lives in Westchester, NY with her husband and two resident cats. www.pennyshima.com

Meet the Yarn: Meridian

Jill Wolcott
passion.fashion.knits

I have been waiting for my chance to work with Meridian.  I like smooth-ish lace weight for shawls, and this one featuring Tencel and alpaca couldn’t be prettier.  It has sheen and matte combined and a fine halo of delicate fibers rising from its surface.

Anzula Meridian by Jill Wolcott

One of the problems with a true lace weight is that it is almost weightless, which can make getting traction on a project a little difficult.  There is no weight to hang off the needle and the fabric ends up looking like a mess.  It is really hard to see where things are going to end up.  In fact, my exploration swatch looked so miserable that I didn’t bother taking gauge before I blocked it because I just assumed it was going to be unworkable.

Jill Wolcott

But this was the result of my swatching on US size 3(3.25mm) needles.  The garter stitch is still pretty meh, but the Stockinette couldn’t be prettier.  Arguably the Seed stitch might not be worth the trouble if you are a thrower, but the texture is perfect.  Before I blocked this swatch I started a swatch in a couple of lace patterns I had adjusted to be worked together.  

Jill Wolcott

I first used Garter for the border pattern, but changed to Seed because it looked horrible. Although the Seed made it a little harder to keep track of the pattern, the resulting border is quite nice really showcases the yarn.  The first 20 rows of the eyelet pattern were hard to keep track of as the stitches curled around each other.  A lot of markers kept the pattern on track, although again it felt like it might be nothing.  Every time I looked at it I thought "scrubby”.  I did this swatch on a US size 4(3.5mm) needle.  

Jill Wolcott

The end result of both swatches, after blocking, are completely worthwhile and I’m glad I didn’t completely abandon hope too early.  Although I went ahead with blocking my exploration swatch, I really didn’t think it would be a success, so I didn’t take the pre-blocking gauge.  I was so happy with it that I am redoing a swatch on wood needles to see if it is easier.

Meridian Exploration Swatch, Unblocked and Blocked, Jill Wolcott

Whatever stitch pattern is worked, there is a marvelous halo around each stitch after blocking. I will be quite honest in saying that this is a more challenging yarn to knit.  At one point my needle kept slipping out while I was counting, which was vexing.  So it is slippery; there are some comments on Ravelry about it being split-y, but I didn’t have a problem with that.  My main issue was that it was entirely impossible to tell what the end result was going to be.  It seemed quite slow going (but look at the changes in blocked gauge), and I expect it will go more smoothly using  a non-metal needle.

Eyelet Pattern Blocked, Jill Wolcott

I love poking around the projects posted for a yarn on Ravelry.  Here are a selection of favorites.  

1.  Used with Shibui Knit Pebble in stripes.  https://www.ravelry.com/projects/lismete/textured-stripes
2. A beautiful (if small bit of it) crocheted lace https://www.ravelry.com/projects/clare6/oswin
3. Another crochet.  Lace, sleeveless duster  https://www.ravelry.com/projects/opportunityknits/crochet-duster-coat
4. A good representative example of the many Meek’s Bay shawls.  https://www.ravelry.com/projects/sabews/meeks-bay
5. A gorgeous shawl from Mindy Wilkes  https://www.ravelry.com/projects/Mindy/brunswick
6. A nice version of a Stockinette cardigan  https://www.ravelry.com/projects/knitandmiss/featherweight-cardigan

I had lots of ideas while making my swatches, which tells me Meridian was nudging me in a creative way which I love.  I am more excited about my ideas now that I have beautiful blocked swatches to look at.  I am going to redo the lace swatch too.

My initial idea was to work a wingspan shawl.  I like the components I chose for stitch patterns, but seeing how the fabric drapes and holds body gives me ideas for design tweaks I can make before embarking on the shawl.  Using a twisted knit between the YOs in both patterns will enhance the overall pattern and perhaps a modification to the YOs.   

I finished off my shawl swatch with a stitch that looks like buds, which goes very nicely with my other pattern, but it looked sloppy and sad before I wet blocked.  It was helped by the wet block, but like everything, the extra polish of steam blocking and stretching to final shape made a complete, and positive, difference.

Jill Wolcott

If you are interested in knowing more about this, I’m redoing swatches, and you can follow my latest results on my GMT project page on Ravelry https://www.ravelry.com/projects/JillWolcott-Knits/gmt.

Keep up on all things Jill Wolcott:
Contact: jill@jillwolcottknits.com
Blog:  http://www.jillwolcottknits.com/category/blog/
Twitter: @jillwolcottknit
Instagram: @jillwolcottknits
Pinterest: Jill Wolcott Knits
www.JillWolcottKnits.com 

Pattern Spotlight: Roxanne by Heddi Craft

Heddi Craft of Heddi Craft Designs joins us with the story of her new shawl pattern, Roxanne, which was released last week:

I first learned about Anzula yarns at the 2015 STITCHES West show. I was almost unable to choose from amongst all the lovely colors and fibers. However, Meridian drew me in with its beautiful sheen and drape. I used my precious skein to create the prototype for my Kerti Shawl and found that it was an ideal yarn to work with because of its subtle color variations and crisp blocking. The generous skein gave me plenty of yarn to experiment. 

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Kerti Shawl in Meridian

Early this year, my local yarn shop held a trunk show for Anzula and I purchased another skein of Meridian, this time in the sky blue Alice colorway. Two months later I learned that my midwife, Roxanne Cummings, who was with me for the birth of all three of my children, had passed away. I knew that skein needed to be knitted in her honor-- it represented the springtime sky and the hope and light that my midwife brought to so many families in my area. 

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Roxanne Cummings

In designing this shawl, I chose patterns that evoked growth and change. Working on the shawl became a part of my grieving process. Even when the design had setbacks and I had to rework the border, I found that I didn't mind-- it gave me more time to spend with the fond memories of my friend. 

Roxanne Shawl in Meridian, colorway Alice

Meridian is quickly becoming my favorite lace-weight yarn and was the perfect yarn for this project. In addition to opening up and blocking beautifully, the tencel gives it a shine and brightness, the alpaca provides softness, and the little bit of nylon gives it strength. Light, softness, and strength were what Roxanne brought to my births as well, so it really was an ideal match. the tonal dyeing technique that Anzula uses really adds to depth to the shawl without distracting from the lace design.

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If you would like to learn more about Heddi and her work, you can find her on Ravelry, Facebook, Instagram, and on her Fiber Craft Mama blog. 

What is your favorite Anzula lace yarn and colorway? Let us know in the comments below. 

Happy Stitching!