Torquata

photo:  Mayden Photography

These two - they're engaged, and we're looking forward to their wedding, far away as it seems now.  It turns out that one of the things these two have in common is knitting mothers.  They also, weirdly, share our birthdays -- Tim and I, Sophie and Tim's mom, Andrea.  We love Tim -- for many reasons, one being his mom -- whom I have to thank for this:


It's Torquata, by Ambah O'Brien.

This project began when I bought a "shooter" from the Plucky Knitter called Typecast.  It was 200 yards each of 4 yarns - a white(ish) yarn speckled with gray called SB#21, a medium gray called Wanderlust, a dark gray called Urban, and Morticia, which is BLACK.  I claim to never buy yarns without a project, but these were my "colors".  I think Andrea (Tim's mom) suggested the Torquata for this gradient, or maybe she just shared hers - in any case, I began collecting colors for this wrap.  I had four, but needed 7.  The folks over in the Plucky group on Ravelry are always good with color suggestions, and at some point the four shades from my Shooter were part of other color groups.  I added Hoodwinked (the red) and Biscuit (the caramel brown) in one order, and Twill, the off-white, a few days later.
 

All these great yarns sat around getting acquainted for about a year.  This summer, we were planning a lot of traveling, and I had been working on a rather complicated fair isle project.  I needed something more travel-friendly.  So I wound up my skeins into balls and cast on.  And by the end of summer, I had a great wrap for this fall.

I think it'll work well both with my black coats, and as an "outfit" scarf.

Torquata

• designed by Ambah O'Brien
•  Plucky Knitter Primo Fingering, 75% sw merino, 20% cashmere, 5% nylon, an 800 yard shooter and 3 full (385 yard) skeins.  The pattern calls for 133 yards of the "panel" colors, and 400 yards of the garter stitch color.  I still had some Biscuit left (from a 385 yard skein)
• size 4 (US) needles
• on Ravelry
• with memories of Italy, Arizona, the way home from Montana, the buses to the Oregon zoo and Silverwood, and quite a bit of Washington

This would be a great second or third project for a knitter who wanted to try lace.  The pattern is simple enough that you learn it by heart fairly quickly.  It's simple, but there's enough happening that it wasn't boring for this experienced knitter looking for a relaxing project.