A Tale of Silky Woe

Once upon a time there was a knitter. She was fairly new to the craft, but she had taken to it well. One fine day she wandered into her local yarn shop to find a hank of Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool out of which to make Branching Out. They didn't have any greens, but they did have a lovely purply-blue so the knitter purchased two hanks and walked out happy with her find. Two repeats into her knitting she discovered that she had made a dreadful error. Leaves should not be purply-blue. It just isn't right. The knitter, now on vacation and over a thousand miles from home, found another wonderful yarn shop that had just the right shade of green Silky Wool. The knitter rejoiced and finished Branching Out with only one glaring (but not terrible) error.

Now the knitter was faced with two lonely hanks of Silky Wool without projects. After some thought, the knitter decided to make Clapotis out of this lovely fiber. The problem, of course, was that two hanks was not nearly enough. So the knitter, now back home, went back to her local yarn shop and dug through the bins until she found more Silky Wool in the same dye lot. She rejoiced and purchased two more hanks. Then the knitter did a very silly thing. She cast on for Clapotis out of Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Merino. While the Blueberry Hill colorway is making a lovely Clapotis, the knitter is no longer sure that she wants to knit another one out of Silky Wool what with all the delightful patterns available to her needles.

More thought was given to the plight of the four lonely hanks of Silky Wool. The knitter had in her possession a copy of Folk Shawls and desperately wanted to make a Highland Triangle Shawl. This seemed to be a good application for Silky Wool! The problem, of course, was that four hanks was not nearly enough. The knitter made her way yet again to her local yarn shop. She searched through the bins where the Silky Wool should be. She searched two bins out from where the Silky Wool should be. She found Silky Wool in natural, brown, black, and pink, but no purply-blue. The knitter was despondent. Luckily, the local yarn shop had many other fibers to make the knitter feel better. She found a delightful ball of Rowan Calmer in a positively happy purple. Then she found three balls of Rowan Kidsilk Spray in lavender/magenta that will make the perfect Kiri shawl to reward the teacher of the knitter's son for her trials.

Still, the knitter really, really wanted just two more hanks of the perfect Silky Wool. She thought to herself that she could make one more try. This time she searched three bins from where the Silky Wool should be and there, back in the corner, hiding under some tweed, she spotted it! Yes, there were four more hanks of that gorgeous purply-blue Silky Wool in the same dye lot! This time the knitter purchased three hanks. As a reward for her stubborn pursuit and insanity persistence, the knitter gave herself a copy of Fiber Trends' Flower Basket Shawl pattern. Now, should the Silky Wool become the Highland Shawl or the Flower Basket Shawl? Time will tell, but the knitter now has enough for either pattern.

Postscript: Please do not tell the knitter that the pattern for Kiri clearly describes it as a "fern" motif. The knitter has convinced herself that Kiri is more of a feather motif and will look delightful in lavender/magenta. The pattern is not, not, NOT going to look like leaves.