Colonnade

Wow, how is that for a quick knit? I restarted this Monday evening and finished knitting it Tuesday morning. Tuesday night, I blocked it and today I am wearing it to work, where I just know there is a fabulous button for it.

This is the first thing I have done in very chunky yarns. First thing completed, and only 1 project more in anything remotely this chunky on the list. (There is a chunky vest in the stash somewhere) As a yarn to knit with, I cannot say I like chunky yarns. I don't care for big needles. They make me feel awkward, like a kid learning to hold a fork, and my hands get tired much faster than they do with smaller needles.

But if you have to knit chunky, knit something fun and knit with something soft. And delicious.

Like Meritwist. There just isn't a clunker yarn in anything that Punta Yarns makes. And the multi coloured Aurucania is a great complement to it. Warm and squishably soft. Very very nice.

These colours look badly matched in the photos right? You might be thinking 'she's gone loopy'. I started at loopy, if you must know, but the colours are not displaying true at all. The Meritwist solid teal side of blue suits the turquoise top, and the turquoise top isn't quite so umm, turquoise. But I do understand where you are coming from.

I wasn't really sure about these myself. On top of being unsure about colours, I wasn't sure about the yarn choice. The Meritwist is just a 100 m per skein and I had 2. Manos Classica is about 125 m. I really did not want to have to buy more. The Aurucania (no idea how much I had) was chunkier than the gauge called for, and did not get even remotely close to the stitch count the pattern said I ought to have before I switched to the ladder lace. I wasn't sure about chunky yarn. Designs on the far side of worsted are usually are admired, and passed over. I thought about giving it away the entire time I was knitting it. It was not 'mine' right up to the moment I tried it on.

Once I put it on everything changed. It fits exactly like it does on the dress form. The shoulder marks the change between yarns. Serendipity. The lace fronts hang just so, drawing the eye in, looking as it it were form fitted. Serendipity. The back hangs to mid back, the shoulder to mid elbow. Serendipity. It is small enough to be worn as a collar. It is big enough to be seen as a shawl. It is open without being too lacy, girly without being dainty, chunky without being heavy.

It is, quite simply, me.

Thank you Steven for coming up with it. Thank you Knitty for seeing genius!