Ashford - More about NZ

On the way back to Christchurch, the last day of our holiday, we stopped in at the Ashford Craft Village, at Ashburton. Mr W was suitably affected by our arrival at a 'craft villate' and promptly set off in search of a coffee - leaving me unsupervised in a yarn store.

Here's a photo of what ended up stuffed into our luggage

4 balls of Ashford Tekapo - for a jumper/top or cardigan

2 balls of Ashford Tekapo that were 1/2 price (bargain!) - a fair isle beannie perhaps?

2 balls of Ashford Kid Mohair - a stripy scarf?

2 skeins of 'Naturally New Zealand' wool (more to dye)

1 ball of merino/possum/silk blend

3 felting needles (felting fun is on its way).

I've spent a while thinking about the 4 green balls of Tekapo. I love the way the two colours work together. But I was at a bit of a loss as to how to get them both into a knitted garment that would fit me. Horizontal stripes were out, and so were large blocks of intarsia colour (too 80's). I could knit a cardigan sideways, and have vertical stripes, but I'm not in a very stripy place at the moment.

So here's what I've come up with - a close fitting top (with round or scoop neck) with a fair isle pattern under the bust. The bottom half would be the dark green, then transition to the top and (short) sleeves in light green. Because I bought the yarn in NZ, I figure a fern pattern wouls be pretty nifty.

Hopefully I'll have enough yarn to knit it.