Possibly Meant for Each Other

Throwback Thursday is one thing, but as I count down the days to Rhinebeck, I decided to have my own little throwback week. I put a picture up on Facebook this morning from the first time I went to Rhinebeck, in 2009, and plan to continue through the week. (Blog posts from 2009: teaser, some photos, the yarns, musings.)

I recently read about a knitting pattern for a shawl that I liked the look of; it's on a blog of a yarn/sheep person, and to my considerable surprise, the pattern isn't on Ravelry, or anywhere else online that I can find! It just goes to show how much Ravelry has become, in the knitting world, that I am shocked when someone doesn't use it. Of course they don't have to, but ... why wouldn't you?

Anyway, it's called the Mioget shawl, and it's got garter side pieces and a patterned center, and looks like it would stay on the shoulders pretty well, which is a nice feature in a shawl. From the pattern, it seems like it might hit my sweet spot in the Venn diagram of "not too boring" and "not too difficult" to make, which can be hard to find. I saved the pattern to think about making it, and wondered if I had enough of a suitable yarn in my stash already that might work, or if I should look for some at Rhinebeck, or what.

Then today I was digging into the stash a little, looking for something, and among the many lovely things there, I ran across this beautiful bundle I got at Rhinebeck last year:

The colors just don't come through well there. It's pale, but not grey: it's blue and green and even some purple...lovely.

And it's sport-weight, I think--I'm not certain, because it, too, is not in Ravelry! At least not under the name on the label, which is Reno. Last year, I listed it there under an entry for Maple Creek Farm 100% Alpaca, which seemed to fit it in all other ways, save for the name, but that was just a guess. I mean, it's close, but the skein I have is 650 yards, and weighs 8.3 ounces, and that listing is 600 yards to 6 ounces, so not an exact match.

So I have a yarn that, at least kind of, isn't in Ravelry, and a pattern that definitely isn't. Like attracts like? I thought the yarn might maybe work for the pattern (which used what she calls a light worsted).

Now, here's where I admit that I can't always remember which yarn weights go in which order. But Ravelry is always there for me.

So, since DK is in between, sport is going to be thinner than even a light worsted ... but that doesn't automatically mean it won't work. I guess what it comes down to is that I shouldn't be surprised if it doesn't work, but it doesn't mean that I can't try. Especially with a shawl, it isn't as critical as, say, a sweater would be. It's going to change the fabric that I get, but not necessarily for the worse. And if it doesn't work, I'll learn something (or at least, that's the hope). The pattern starts at the small end, so it will be like swatching, just to start it and see if I like what happens.