I’m having a love affair with a yarn. The object of my affection is the handspun, self-striping, single ply 32 Flavors created by Stephanie McKay. Though I haven’t counted all the saturated colors I’m certain there are 32 and possibly more. And though the brilliant colors caused my heart to first flutter, one touch cinched the relationship. 32 Flavors is one of the softest merino wools I have ever felt.
I saw it used for a narrow scarf, its colors stacking up in bold, cheery stripes that would rid anyone of their winter blahs. I thought of knitting such a scarf and matching it with mittens. But what if I created a scarf where the blocks of color slanted in opposite directions? What if I knit an entrelac scarf?
In the above swatch the blocks are six stitches wide; in the swatch below the blocks are eight stitches wide. Knowing that the yarn’s color segments are two to four yards long I wanted to play with the size of the blocks hoping to keep one color per block. The smaller sized blocks worked the best.
But what if I crocheted with 32 Flavors? I love to crochet motifs and my favorite motif is the traditional granny square. I can imagine a 1960’s inspired scarf of sewn together granny squares, its ends finished with long fringe. Or a single granny square that grows outward until it becomes a blanket.
But what if I could make the colors swirl around a central point in pencil-thin stripes? The best way to try this, short of knitting a garment, was to knit a beret.
It wasn’t until I reached the very top of the crown that the colors played out in wide stripes giving me a perfect bull’s-eye. I used a previously written pattern for another yarn, River Twist, and it can be found here. The only change I made to the pattern was to use a needle two sizes smaller for the ribbed brim.
I now have to be the fickle lover less I use every one of the 32 Flavors skeins we have in stock and possibly deny a fellow knitter a chance romance. |
