Unexpected Effects

It’s a puzzlement.

Yarn that is perfectly lovely in the skein can become underwhelming or downright unattractive when it’s transformed into fabric. (This is especially true with way-too-many variegated yarns.) Conversely wallflower yarn sometimes becomes lush and delightful once it’s knitted, crocheted or woven.

Remember The Good, the Bad, the Uglies? The two-toned speckled, confetti-like yarns looked fine in the skein, but they looked mottled, splotchy and awful no matter what stitch I tried. Resigned to using these skeins for dishcloths, I could imagine scrubbing something super grimy then tossing the cloth rather than wasting time and water to wash it. (Yes, I really, really disliked that yarn.)

Then a weird thing happened. In a last ditch effort, I tried again.

The uglies morphed into something completely different when they were paired with a closely aligned solid color and worked in the fluted rib stitch.

This discovery quickly moved several ugly skeins out of the stash and into a series of
Twegen afghans.

Fast forward to my current WIP, the two-toned version of the Drumlin reversible afghan in brighter shades.

With the green strip finished, it was time to start the blue one. Color selections were obvious since only two stash skeins had sufficient yardage: One was a predictable powder blue, the other was a muted indigo. Strictly speaking they weren’t ugly, just uninspiring enough to make the prospect of working with them feel like a chore not a choice.
         

Once again a strange thing happened.

In combination, these pedestrian shades became fresh and interesting. The indigo gained stature and the lighter blue took on a nearly luminous quality. (The photo captures a little of this.)

This surprising synergy turned a dreaded portion of the project into pure pleasure.

That's the mystery and marvel of working with fiber. It's always fascinating, sometimes frustrating and occasionally fabulous. All because of these exciting and unexpected effects.


If you're looking for the Twegen reversible afghan pattern, you'll find it here.
If you're looking for the Drumlin reversible afghan pattern, you'll find it here.