I had planned to design a lace wrap to make for our trip to Scotland. At the time, I didn’t know that lace pattern+alpaca yarn = bad idea. About 32 rows into the pattern, I figured it out and frogged the project.
I still wanted a wrap, and I still wanted to use my alpaca yarn. It had been sitting in my stash (all 1000 yards of it) for 4 years, an impulse buy at the annual Downtown Sidewalk Sale in 2004. I picked it up because it was soft and couldn’t put it down. The plan was to use it, along with some really ugly super bulky acrylic yarn, to make a throw, which explains why it languished on the needles for ~3 years.
I had 330 yards each of cream, grey, and brown 100% pure alpaca. I liked the looks of the Clapotis (a pattern which came out the same year I bought the yarn). It was simple, but still lacy, and the natural fuzziness of the alpaca wouldn’t interfere with the pattern. Designer Kate Gilbert notes:
French women are known for wearing scarves. Starting in September and until summer arrives, this is a most important accessory. The scarf may be striped or patterned, colorful, wrinkled and is much bigger than the scarves you probably have. Women just wrap the scarf around their neck in a “Je suis belle et ça ne demande aucun effort” sort of way and off they go.
But all the ones I’d seen were done either in variegated or solid yarn, and I didn’t have enough of any one color to complete the project.
Being a scientist/geek, it occurred to me that I could use the Fibonacci sequence to space the colors.
Technical specs:
- Yarn: Reynolds Andean Alpaca
- 330 yards Color 63 (brown)
- 220 yards Color 40 (grey)
- 220 yards Color 21 (cream)
- Needles: Size 8 bamboo circular
- Pattern: Clapotis by Kate Gilbert
- New skills:
- Dropping stitches as a design element
- Pattern design/modification
The Fibonacci pattern worked out like this (1 repeat = 12 rows):
- Section 1 (1 repeat total):
- 1 repeat color A (brown)
- Section 2 (7.5 repeats total):
- 1 repeat color B (grey)
- 2 repeats color A
- 3 repeats color C (cream)
- 1.5 repeats color A
- Section 3 (14 repeats total):
- 3 repeats color A
- 8 repeats color B
- 3 repeats color A
- Section 4 (7.5 repeats total):
- 1.5 repeats color A
- 3 repeats color C
- 2 repeats color B
- 1 repeat color A
- Section 5 (1 repeat):
- 1 repeat color B
I finished it in plenty of time for our trip, working on it a couple of times a week while watching every James Bond movie in chronological order. And it should keep me plenty warm in Scotland, where the average high temperature has been in the 60s this month.
