Somewhere in my very first pound of spinning fiber I spun a lovely little 4 oz. of lime green, sock weight yarn.  It was my first 3 ply yarn and I spun it with a “z” twist to see if I would notice a difference while knitting continental style.  But… it was lime green and only 4 oz. of fiber.  I knew I would either have to knit something small or pair the yarn up with something else.  Lime green meant it lingered.

Just in the last week, I finished up this lovely turquoise yarn.  It is in an “s” twist and spun as a two ply.  I was thinking as a two ply, it would make a nice lace yarn.  The color is beautiful and the photos do not do it justice.  I was pondering the Haruni shawl, but I was concerned I would not quite have enough yardage.  I decided to risk it and went in search of the pattern in my stash as well as some yarn that could pair up with it if the worst happened.

While I was looking for the Haruni pattern in my binder, I ran across another pattern I had already knit up twice already.  What can I say, it’s a great pattern.  It was Romi’s Taygete shawl.  I knit it once in purples as a gift.  I followed that with one made of lovely tans + pale, sky blue.  The second was done up in a couple of sock yarns that had too much bounce to them.  I practically stood on the iron trying to flatten the thing out, to no avail.  (It is in a pile to be “frogged”.  Ribbit, ribbit, rip it).

Then I noticed the colors on the Taygete pattern picture were nearly the same as the two yarns I had sitting right next to it.  Huh!!  I very rarely choose the same colors as what is written in a pattern, but this seemed a little too odd.  It was like my subconscious taking the driver seat.  The decision was made… or it found me… I’m not entirely sure which.

My handspuns are not bouncy sock yarns, just worsted spun merino, so hopefully my curling issue will be a thing of the past.  I’m not sure how the “z” twist, “s” twist and ply variations will play out, but given the structure of the shawl (mostly garter), I think it will be balanced enough not to misbehave.  I may have to use a slightly larger needle for the lace section to compensate for the lighter weight yarn by itself in a larger area, but it should work.  And, I will get to showcase my handspun turquoise yarn in the lace.  Whoohoo!

The project begins.