I picked up this yarn a couple of summers ago in one of my all-time favourite small-town stores, the Antigonish 5¢ to $1 in beautiful Antigonish, Nova Scotia. The store is a treasure trove of wonderful items, many of which are local. This yarn is not quite local, but hailing from Canada’s oldest woolen mill in New Brunswick, just one province over and also in the Maritimes, is close enough for me. Plus the siren song from the shelves was undeniable, so there was that.
This tasty skein – I bought two of the same because I didn’t know what I was going to make – is Softspun 100% wool, worsted weight, 240 yards (219 meters), hand painted in the Eggplant colourway. It’s quite a robust feeling wool though I wouldn’t go so far as to call it rough, and it softens up with use. I loved it and had absolutely no idea what to do with it, so I bided my time.
Then, last fall there came a moment between babies and other projects when I just started itching to make something with that particular yarn. I rarely do this, preferring to let serendipity do the hard work with my hobbies most of the time, but I went on a serious hunt for the right pattern. And what do you know, it was only a few steps away all along!
As much as I rave about the Starshower - here and here - it occurred to me to look at the designer’s other patterns. The Adama has that cowl/shawl hybrid shape I so enjoy, but is designed for worsted yarn, and I was confident would look fantastic in the rich, jewel colours. The pattern is also fairly simple to follow, an important criteria for travel knitting.
The now-completed Adama has become a very frequent traveler itself. It matches so many of my tops. (And hides stains really well too. Shhhhh.)
Anyone else a little troubled that they let this maniacal-looking fiend on a plane with sharp metal pokey things in her carry on??? Don’t worry though, I didn’t have any liquids or gel. Crafters gonna craft, yo.
I still have one skein and a smidge left of the yarn so it’ll turn up in something else somewhere down the road. Stay tuned.
