Wednesday, September 24, 2014

WIP Wednesday: Bridges Infinity Scarf


This is an interesting one, at least to me. I had some leftover yarn I wanted to use in . . . something. It was a fine yarn, meaning that small needles were required if I knit it alone. I don't really like small needles: too finicky. But I love the colours in this yarn: purples, blues, pinks, golds, and grays all spun together with a very fine metallic something that gave it a nice sparkle.

If you look online, you can find all kinds of patterns that are “stashbusters,” which means small projects that will use up the odds and ends a knitter often has once the original project is complete. But this beautiful yarn was way more than a small odds and end piece: there was still quite a bit left.

With all that in mind, I knew I wanted to use it along with another yarn to make something lovely. When I visited one of my favourite yarns shops, I found the perfect yarn: Classic Elite Yarns' Magnolia. On the way home I began imagining exactly what I wanted to created with these two yarns, picturing the finished piece and hoping the warm brown would pair as well as I thought it would. And when I got home, whew! They paired up beautifully! The brown of the solid yarn grounds the sparkly multi-coloured yarn; and the sparkly yarn glams up the brown. Perfect!

I started knitting right away.
Sparkling colours and chestnut "girders."

The pattern—my very simple pattern—is designed to let you see the combined loveliness along with just the brown. The reason? That brown yarn is a luxurious mix of merino and silk and looks like what it is named for: chestnut. As I worked through the pattern, I kept thinking of both the Forth Bridge in Scotland and the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. You know those rusted-looking girders? That beautiful, reddish-brown? Well the garter stitch in this pattern, using only the Magnolia, reminds me of the girders that sturdily hold up bridges. And the stocking stitch portion of the scarf makes me think of the sparkling water over which both these bridges span reflecting lights in the dusky darkness.

I'm a little over halfway finished and I'll share the finished version on a FO Friday soon.






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