I have previously recounted the provenance of the blue and gold handdyed yarn by Radiant Twist (sorry, the etsy shop is Illusion Yarns, but she seems to have renamed her business Radiant Twist).
I swatched a lot. I tried Argosy. Too big and bulky-looking. I tried Steam (pdf). Meh. I tried Palindrome. Meh.
I thought to myself, why don't I like this? It's because the blue is not Cal Blue. It's so UCLA. What can I do to darken the colors? Maybe I could get some carrying yarn, like Kidsilk Haze or something, in navy, to darken the overall color.
We were visiting The Sweetie's parents in Pleasanton, and we took a walk to the Farmer's Market, and I wrangled a side trip to the LYS. It had been a nice yarn shop before, but I was so blown away because it had changed owners and is now a wonderful shop! It's called Knit This, Purl That and they carry Lorna's Laces and Malabrigo and Blue Sky Alpacas and some custom small producer handdyed sock yarn and...and...and...! And the owner and her daughter were really friendly.
I found some lovely navy blue yarn, 50% merino, 50% Alpaca - Cascade Lana D'Oro, which I've never seen before. It's a light worsted weight and so smooshy and soft! Slightly hairy, which is what I was looking for to combine with the slightly hairy 100% merino of the blue and gold.
I took it home and tried holding the two together. Yuck. I was about to give up and sell it to some UCLA fan.....when I remembered BrooklynTweed's Noro Scarf. That was it. After only 4 stripes or so, I knew it was the right thing. The Sweetie wholeheartedly agreed. It's all 1x1 rib and so I also tried (hot off Yarnival) the Italian tubular cast-on. It was a little confusing in the beginning, but I got it in the end.
And look - you can see the yellow zigzag back and forth! I never would have even hoped to plan that. Shazam! I am loving this scarf - it is the most amazing thing! And so easy to knit while watching TV, endlessly fascinating to see where the color changes, and reversible! Mine is 30 stitches wide, and when I change the yarn, I knit both colors together on the first stitch. I think I have enough yarn for 2, maybe 3 of these. The whole family can be outfitted!
So there you have it - serendipity indeed!
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6 comments:
Oh, it -is- beautiful in that pattern/yarn combo! I can't wait to see the whole thing all snuggly on your neck. Hooray.
I just cast off Jared's scarf in Silk Garden; it's a fun knit, and looks great in your wool. The tutorial for the tubular caston has been bookmarked and will be tried on my next applicable project- thanks for the link.
fantastic combo! The colors looks great together. : )
That yellow zigzag is just magic! Looks fantastic!
You found the perfect pattern for the scarves! The zig-zagging gold is great!
This looks beautiful!
I found your blog via Molecular Knitting and have been loving in particular your Cal knits. I just finished a Harry Potter beanie in blue and gold for my husband. You can see it here if you're interested.
Go Bears! (We'll be in section FF tomorrow, though it doesn't look like hat-wearing weather.)
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