Most of my FOs have happened this way, Christina is online browsing for yarn, Christina buys a single skein of some yarn, Christina pets and oogles yarn after it shows up, Christina goes to queue to find a pattern for it, Christina vows to by more than a single skein next time she shops online for yarn after discovering she can't find a pattern for her single skein. For Spectra it was the other way around, I actually ordered the yarn to go with the pattern.
It is a neat pattern, a really interesting shape and a great chance to try a new skill, intarsia. And I really wanted to knit something outside my normal range of things. This was a great break, although it did get tedious at times, I had to make myself knit two wedges a day so that it would be finished in time for me to start fresh with new projects for the Ravellenic Games (that coincided with the Olympics).
In the end I'm pleased with the result, and I think I'm going to use the leftovers to weave a scarf, with the Grey outside yarn as the warp (end to end threads) and the Chroma as the weft (back and forth yarn) to make sure that I don't end up with a broken frayed warp and also to watch the slow color changes occur in a different manner to the Spectra-scope scarf.
- Details -
Project Name: Spectra-scope
Pattern: Spectra by Stephen West of WestKnits
Recipient: Me, but I may end up rehoming it
Yarn: KnitPicks - Gloss Fingering in Coast Grey and Chroma Fingering in Roller Skate (both colors are discontinued)
Modifications:
- I did a total of 100 color wedges instead of the 80-some called for in the pattern.
New Skills:
- Intarsia: This is the first time I have done intarsia colorwork. I neither loved nor hated it, so if another pattern that I love calls for it I won't be afraid.
Feedback:
- Yarn: I find that with KnitPicks yarn you get what you pay for, it is a good price and you get good yarn, but it is sometimes just the right thing. I liked working with the Gloss Fingering, I like it more than the Gloss DK I used eons ago on the Shifting Sands scarf, and on par with the Gloss Lace of my Falling Leaves Shawl. The Chroma must be an acquired taste, because it did what was expected to do (have long color changes) but I didn't enjoy working with the single as much as a like the single of Tosh Merino Light.
- Pattern: My first time working from a Stephen West pattern, and it was nice, clear and short, some of the things I like most in a pattern.
Re-Knit?: Nope, it is a cool FO but I would much stoles and shawls to scarves (and I weave my scarves these days).