I don't think I'd even heard of Rowan Big Wool four or so months ago. That was before I bought the new pattern book by Kim Hargreaves, Heartfelt: The Dark House Collection. I loved the look of Cherish, found the recommended Big Wool on sale during a trip to Webs, and that was that. Using my Denise size 17 needles was a bit clumsy, getting stitches from the thin cable to the thick needle, but I expect that would be a problem regardless of the brand of needles. I loved how quickly the project knitted up! Almost instant gratification. And I really like the finished project. Then a friend lent me her New Shapes pattern book by Rowan, and the Vanilla Scarf is really calling out to me. In the meantime, some Big Wool Fusion and the Fantine pattern from French Girl showed up in my order from Jimmy Beans. And now today, in browsing around Ravelry, I found a couple of lovely examples of Tess knit by nancykane. I think it is most interesting that when I saw this in the Heartfelt book, I had no interest whatsoever in it. Now, in comparing it to Nancy's versions, I think it must be the light color used in the pattern book that turned me off. I seem to think this needs to be a rich dark color, as hers are. This is an interesting aspect of Ravelry, being able to see multiple versions of a project, and perhaps revise one's opinions about the pattern.
