Sunday, July 27, 2014

Talavera Dreams

Every now and then a knitting pattern comes along that is just too pretty to ignore.  Okay, so it happens quite  often, but this particular pattern was a "must make" from the moment I spotted it.  It's an afghan called "Persian Dreams" by Jenise Reid (Ravelry link).

It's just the kind of knitting that I love to do.... lots of color, flexibility of choice and each section makes up in a reasonable amount of time = fairly instant gratification, fingering weight yarn and small needles.

I looked through all the projects on Ravelry and the color choices and was drawn to two in particular.  The dark rendition by joan8904 and one that reminds me of the colors of Delft pottery in the Netherlands by CeruleanSarah.

I've decided to go with the dark background and take my color inspiration from the colors of the Southwest U.S. and from Talavera pottery.  I love the bold, deep, vibrant colors and the designs.  I've decided to rename my afghan to "Talavera Dreams".


There are 6 charts and I've just finished the first one. I plan to make every chart in a different colorway.  For the colors, it's a great stash buster.  However, I had to buy the black background color as I didn't have enough of any one color in my stash.  This pattern uses a lot of yardage.  In this hexagon I used, from the center out:  Trekking XXL sock yarn, color 516; Space Cadet Oriana 8-ply, color Burnt Clay A; Wonderland Yarns Cheshire Cat, color Barley Sugar and Vice Yarn, color Calypso for the last 2 outer rounds.  The background is Cascade Yarns Heritage Sock Yarn, black #5601. My plan is to do the last two rounds of every block in the same vivid cobalt blue.  Hopefully I'll be able to stick to my plan of doing a block a month, but if the first one is any indication, I might pick up that pace a bit.

I haven't forgotten my Rowan afghan.  Today I finished the last of the 48 squares and it's now being blocked.  I'll be assembling them any day now.  This was another great stash-busting project.

Here's a Talavera dish that I have and is one of the things I look to for inspiration:

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Beautiful Afghan, Lots of work involved. I admire your skill and patience.

By the way, authentic, certified Talavera pottery, comes only from Puebla, México.

Minerva
Calgary,Alberta

Anonymous said...

Hi Minerva,

That's very good to know. The pottery is so lovely that it needs to be recognized. I'm going to assume that my dish is authentic as I got it through National Geographic. I know that I like it a lot.

Thanks for your kind words. ☺

Dayana Knits said...

I'm so glad you're making this so I can live vicariously through you. And your stash. lol