Akimbo Again

(picture)

Pattern: Akimbo by Stephen West
Yarn: Wollmeise 80/20 Twin in Birkenrinde as the main color, with the bright red parts of a Cranberries Zauberball as the contrast color
Needles: Size 4
Modifications: The scarf was worked entirely in stockinette, and the color pattern for the chevron was done with 4 stripes of the CC instead of 2. I still used 2 stripes of the MC.
Completed: January 8, 2010

I loved this pattern so much that after finishing it, I knew I wanted to explore how it would look in stockinette, and I wanted another one in a totally different color scheme. I wanted to use my Wollmeise, so I dumped it all out on my stove. My house doesn't have any overhead lighting, so it's the best place to look at it under light. And it was night time. But I picked out a bunch of pairs of Wollmeise, and the one I liked the best was Birk with a bright blue. Then I put the Birk on my swift and realized I actually had what's called "piggy birkenrinde." Instead of being purely cream and black, parts have a pinkish cast. It's more of a red brown, and you really don't notice it in the hank, but once I was aware of it, it was all I could see. I hated the idea of a red, white, and blue scarf, so this put me into a little bit of a panic mode. Thanks to Ravelry's new "search your stash by color" feature, I was able to find a nice red yarn. Because Zauberball is an evolving yarn, it isn't just bright red but also a burgundy/maroon color. While I liked that at first, in practice I wasn't too fond of it, so I cut off parts that weren't the bright red I liked so much. I ended up with a Zauberball and 4 little zauberbabies (just in case when I make socks with this I end up running short).

This looked like crap fresh off the needles, but as soon as I soaked it and pinned it to block, it looked fantastic. I wore it the next day and everyone commented how nice it looked and how well the colors went together. I've tricked my knitting group into believing I have color sense. No, I just have a lot of yarn, and eventually, by the law of averages, I'd hit the right combo.

I will probably make another Akimbo, just because I have the pattern and I know I like it. I think I'd stick with this stockinette version, since it shows off variegated yarns so nicely. I actually like pooling - it's an adventure to me.